Once Upon A December Night
by RoseDragonWitch
Summary: (Part of my HP Fairytale series) After the revolt, Empress Minerva escaped to Hogwarts, and is offering a reward for the return of her missing granddaughter. A girl called Hermy resembles the princess Hermione, but can't remember her life before the revolution. Hermy and her new friends set out together, discovering new terrain of friendship, family, and, of course, love.
1. Prologue: One December Night

(A re-telling of Anastasia.)

**Prologue: One December Night**

Everything started off so wonderfully that night, no one could ever have dreamt of what was going to happen. It would be the last time that the royal family would be together. The last time that the palace would be full of music and laughter…

The palace in the village of Hogsmeade is where our story begins. The royal family was throwing a grand ball, celebrating the anniversary of the fall of Grindlewald.

The Dowager Empress Minerva was there as well, and was set out to leave for Hogwarts the next morning. The parting would be particularly hard on her youngest granddaughter Hermione. The two of them had always been close. It was just past eight and the palace was full of the sounds of laughter and merriment when everything went wrong and their happy family was torn apart… forever.

The Lady Minerva could be seen watching from her spot, as her granddaughter came running up to her after finishing a dance with her father. Hermione was eight and was almost shining that night as she ran to her, holding a piece of parchment in her hands.

"Grandma!" she said ecstatically as she almost jumped into her lap.

"Hermione, you shouldn't act so brashly," Minerva said, but she couldn't help but laugh as well.

"This is for you," little Hermione said pulling away and handing her the drawing. "So you can remember me when you leave."

Minerva took the drawing, and smiled at the sloppy drawing of the family crest, the lion. She laughed again and hugged Hermione tightly. Out of all her grandchildren, Hermione had always been her favorite.

"I'll look at it every night while I'm at Hogwarts," she promised, but then Hermione frowned.

"Do you have to go?" she asked sadly.

"I am afraid so," she said, stroking her hair. "I shall miss you dear."

"Why do you have to go Grandma? I'll miss you so much," she said and she hugged her Grandmother burying herself in the smell of lavender.

Minerva sighed. Her business called her away from her country and thereby from Hermione. She had made numerous trips to Hogwarts and she begged her not to go, but that night she had something very special for her. She pulled something out of her pocket, causing Hermione to gasp.

"Is that for me?" she asked in amazement, her big brown eyes caused Minerva to chuckle.

"Yes, my dear," she said. "I had it made just for you."

It was a small book, just big enough to hold in the palm of her hand, decorated with wands, owls, and stars. In the center of the book, was a large circle, which held the lion crest of the royal family.

Hermione took it and said, "It's so pretty." But when she looked up, she noticed a small boy with bright, red hair being dragged away behind the throne; but she quickly forgot about him as her Grandmother brought out a small velvet box. She placed it in her hands and Hermione stroked the box carefully before she clicked it open.

Inside was a tiny little hourglass on a chain.

"Wow," Hermione whispered. "What is it?"

"It is called a Time-Turner my dear," she smiled. "They say that the sand inside holds our precious memories."

She smiled as she took the Time-Turner and placed it, standing up, on the circle of the book and turned it. Hermione then realized that it was some kind of a slot and the hourglass was a key. Once Minerva removed the key, the little book opened up.

Hermione's face just lit up when the dancing figurines of little otters danced around. Otters were Hermione's favorite animals.

"It's singing the song, Grandma!" she cried happily.

"Yes, child, it is. You can play it at night and when I am not here, you can pretend that I am," Minerva smiled.

Hermione smiled shyly and started to hum along:

_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald,  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling,  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot. _

She sang along, ending in a laugh. She never could get through the song without laughing at the words.

That was when Minerva put the chain around her neck and held it up for her to see. "Read it…"

As Hermione strained to see, she saw there were words engraved on the top part of the hourglass.

"Together at Hogwarts?" she asked. It took a second but it registered, "Really?" she asked and Minerva laughed nodding. Hermione squealed in delight and hugged her.

"I'll keep it with me forever," she promised.

She was just about to go back to the party when all of a sudden, the hall went dark, everyone turned to the doors and there stood a squat figure, dressed in pink.

Hermione's father, stood up and approached her demanding what she was doing here.

"How _dare_ you return to the palace?" he growled.

"But I was your father's confidant," the toad woman smiling sweetly. "Why, am I not invited to this great ball?" she demanded and Hermione hated her girly voice.

"Confidant?" her father shouted. "HA, you are a traitor, to him and to this family. Get Out!"

"Leave this place, Dolores," called a voice, and Hermione looked up to see the captain of the royal guards standing there, with his sons behind him.

This angered the toad woman. "Ah, Arthur," Dolores said sweetly. "So ignorant, you really think that you can banish me? I am more powerful then you realize my boy. I bestow a curse upon the royal family. You all will die tonight, and I will not rest until you all are gone!"

"You have been banished for the practice of magic. Leave here now," Hermione's father called, and Hermione risked a step closer.

"Hermione," Minerva said taking her arm and pulling her back.

"You cannot make me leave here," Dolores said and he raised her arms. Instantly the huge double doors burst open and there stood an army of people. It was now clear to Minerva what happened. Dolores had sold her soul so that she might destroy the royal family.

"Get the family," Dolores shouted and the men started forward pulling swords from their sheaths. Minerva grabbed Hermione and pulled her backwards.

"Hurry children!" they heard the King called.

Minerva grabbed Hermione and they made for the nearest door.

"No!" a voice called. They looked up to see a couple small boys there, both with red hair, the younger boy was the same one she saw just moments ago. "This way, through the servant's quarters!"

"Who are you?" Hermione asked.

"It doesn't matter, please just come with us," the older boy said and he grabbed her hand and pulled her, Minerva followed them and the boys ran down the corridor to statue of a woman with a hump avoiding all of the men that Dolores brought with her.

The older red-head muttered something and the hump of the witch opened just wide enough for people to sneak through.

"In here," he said and Minerva nodded and pushed Hermione through the hole first. But as she did, Hermione had dropped the music box.

Hermione turned and yelled, "My music box!" she turned and ran back towards it.

Minerva, who just climbed in as well, heard one of the boys shout, "There's no time go!" and pushed her hard through the him and it shut. They were both in complete darkness. As the two huddled there, they could hear what was going on.

"Where are they boys?" a men demanded.

"Don't know what you're talking about," they heard one of the boys shout. Hermione then heard a man laugh and the sounds of a body hitting the floor hard.

"N—" Hermione tried to shout out no, but Minerva put a hand over her mouth and dragged her down the passageway. They didn't stop until they reached the exit and were outside… near the lake of the palace.

Minerva sighed and pulled Hermione with her. They had no choice but to get to the station. They could take it to the docks and bored a ship for Hogwarts there. Only there will they be safe.

After escaping from the castle, the two ran across the grounds to get to the train. As they attempted to run over the frozen lake, Dolores jumped out and grabbed Hermione's leg, pulling her down to the ground.

"GRANDMA!" screamed Hermione's voice. Minerva spun around to see her.

"NO!" Minerva shouted and attempted to pull Hermione from the toad's grasp.

"Please let me go!" Hermione pleaded as she kicked out.

"You'll never escape!" she cackled. Suddenly, there was a loud crack. Minerva looked down and noticed that the ice was cracking under Dolores weight. Dolores noticed it to and didn't hesitate when she released her granddaughter's ankle.

"Hurry, Hermione!' she shouted as she pulled her to her feet and continued to run across the frozen grounds of their home. She glanced back to make sure she was still down and saw that Dolores was going under the water… but the castle—their home—was now in flames. She didn't hesitate and she kept running pulling Hermione in tow.

"Come on!" Minerva yelled as they ran for their lives to Hogsmeade station. Luckily, the station wasn't too far from the lake. They reached the train station at Hogsmeade just in time for it to be pulling away. It was already packed full of people waiting to get on. Minerva was allowed onto the train but before Hermione could get on, the train started to move.

Hermione reached out and grabbed her Grandmother's hand.

"Grandma!" she cried reaching for her.

"Grab my hand Hermione!" she shouted as she took hold of her tiny hand, holding on as tightly as she could, "Hold on!"

"Don't let go," Hermione said with tears rolling down her face. As the train gained momentum, Minerva slowly lost her grip. Hermione tried to hold on but she tripped and fell, their hands being pulled apart.

"HERMIONE!" Minerva cried, watching as her granddaughter hit her head on the tracks. "HERMIONE!"

But she didn't answer. So many lives were lost that night, and while they all hit her hard, the hardest was the loss of her dearest granddaughter Hermione…

Minerva never saw her again.

**(What do you think so far?)**


	2. A Sign

**Chapter 1: A Sign**

Ten years later:

After the royals were all killed that night, Dolores, along with the men who had attacked the palace that night had taken on the name of 'Ministry' and have since then been in rule. It was a horrible way of life, as the people were only given jobs that the government told them they could have. Basically the government decided everything for you.

Hogsmeade had become dark and gloomy, ever since the palace had been set aflame. No one had seemed truly happy. They went through school and their daily lives, gossip had kept their lives busy. Rumors had started that while the royals were all supposed to have been killed the night of the revolt, there might still be one alive. Hermione…

The last Grand Duchess.

It was that rumor that had caught the attention of a petite red-headed girl. She had been roaming the street when she heard such things, she instantly ran to her older brother to go tell him the news. However, Ron already knew and was looking for her as well.

"Do you believe this Ginny? This is our chance; I hear Madam will pay a large sum to get her back," Ron said excitedly.

"Yes," she smiled. Her days as a con girl were over. The night of the revolt, she and Ron's father and older brothers had all been killed trying to protect the royals. Their mother, stricken with grief, died a few years ago, and since then, the two of them had been living in the remained ruins of the palace. But now this was their chance to leave and get their lives together. "This is our chance to get out of this life forever. This is the rumor of the century. Now all we need is the girl and we'll be on our way!"

Meanwhile outside of Hogsmeade in a small town on Diagon Alley, there was another story. The Shrieking Shack, the name of the run-down orphanage, two friends were finally leaving their home… or rather… being kicked out.

A boy, with black hair and green eyes, along with a girl with bushy, brown hair and brown eyes were being led to the rickety old gate that guarded the orphanage.

"I've found you a job at Grunnings," Marge grumbled as she leaned on the cane she used to wack the children. The orphanage had always been crowded, especially since so many children lost their families during the revolt. It was always a good day whenever Marge was able to get rid of one child. But two at the same time… it was a wonder why Marge didn't start singing. "You go straight down this road until you get to the fork in the road. Turn left—"

All the while this lady was calling out her orders, the two teens were shouting goodbye to the other children, who were too young to leave, and were now hanging out the windows.

"Bye bye Harry!" a boy and his little brother called.

"See ya, Colin! Dennis! Take care of each other!" Harry yelled, waving back.

"Hermy!" a girl with pigtails shouted at the girl.

"Goodbye Hannah!" the girl named Hermy shouted back. "I'll miss you!"

"Are you even listening?" Marge said in an annoyed voice.

They both looked at her and said at the same time, "Of course we're listening, Aunt Marge."

Even though this fat woman, with the mustache, wasn't their aunt of course, they had been forced to call her that their whole lives.

"You two brats should be grateful that you were brought here and out of the cruel world," Marge snapped as the bulldogs that she kept came barking up at them.

"Yes, Aunt Marge," they both said at the same time, looking down at the dogs with identical expressions of disgust on their faces.

"If it had been up to me, I would've thrown you out long ago," she snapped, her multiple chins wobbling as she spoke. "But I was forced to keep you and all the other filth that were brought to my door."

"Yes, Aunt Marge," they repeated. She glared at them both, as if trying to figure out if they were mocking her, which they were.

The older woman looked at them with almost disgust, "You two little demons have been pebbles in my shoe since you arrived here, acting like you owned the place instead of the worthless no accounts that you are. I fed you, I clothed you, I—"

"Kept a roof over our worthless head," the boy muttered loudly, having heard that speech before. "Tough love?" he added and his best friend smiled, holding her fingers to her mouth to keep herself from bursting out laughing. Marge stopped short as she glared at Harry. "I have taken care of you both for the past ten years, and yet you can mock me with everything I have." She pointed a fat finger at Harry's chest, "You aren't even from this country!"

Harry looked down and pretended to look ashamed.

"And you," she snarled at Hermy, "How is it that you don't have a clue of who you were when you came to us, but you can remember all that?"

"I do have a clue!" she said firmly, and pulled out a necklace with a little hourglass.

"Of course you do, that silly necklace saying _'together at Hogwarts,'_" she chuckled harshly, "So you want to go to Hogwarts to find your family, right?"

Hermy nodded firmly, but as Marge lead them to the gate and unlocked it, she pushed them both through with such force that they went sprawling in the snow. They both lay in the snow pressing their eyes closed and as they heard the door shut tightly."Ha, don't get your hopes up you brats," she chuckled as the two of them turned to glare at her, blinking snow out of their eyes. "It is time you took your place in this world. In life and in line, and be grateful too."

She then pointed down the road.

"Go down the road until you reach the sign. Go left," she laughed at them, "Now get out."

"Together at Hogwarts!" she called laughing as Harry helped Hermy to her feet, and they trudged down the snow-covered path, mimicking Marge.

"it is time you took your place in this world," Harry said in a grumpy, deep voice that sounded uncannily like Marge as Hermy laughed.

"Be grateful," he muttered. "I think I speak for both of us when I saw we are grateful," he then turned and shouted at the dirty building in the distance, "Grateful to get out of that dump!"

Hermy put her hands up on his shoulders and turned him down the road. "Just forget her," she said firmly. "We're free from her now. We don't have to take orders from her anymore."

For the last ten years they had lived in an orphanage. Harry had been very young when he became separated from his parents during the night of the revolt. He and his family had been visiting from Godric's Hallow and now that he was free of this orphanage, he was determined to go back to his home and see if his parents, or any family for that matter, are still alive.

But for his friend Hermy…

He looked at her sadly, he had been at the orphanage for a couple days when they brought her in. She was given the bed right next to his and from what he heard, she had been found wandering the streets with no clue to who she was or where she was from.

Except for the necklace she always wore, she had nothing. Harry could understand why she was so protective of it. The only thing he had left was a silver cloak that belonged to his father. He wrapped said cloak around himself tighter for warmth as they continued walking along the road.

"So what do we do now?" he asked her. The two of them were of age, and were no longer considered children. Which means that they were no longer allowed back there.

"The way I see it," Hermy said, "We've got two choices."

"Which are?"

She pointed ahead, and he saw the place where the road split into two. He looked up at the signs. The left one pointed to a village called 'Grunnings' while the right one pointed to 'Hogsmeade'.

"That's the Grunnings village that Marge told us to go," she muttered.

"Turn left, she said," Harry muttered, wrapping his father's cloak tighter around him. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be an orphan forever," he told Hermy. "And if we go left, that's what will happen."

Hermy nodded.

"I don't either," she said sadly. "And if we go right and try and get to Hogwarts…" she smiled but it faded almost as quickly as it had come. She sat down in snow, in front of the post. "I don't know," she said. Her hand slid up and grasped at the necklace. "What if I did have a family and they didn't want me?" she asked him. "What if I did find them but didn't even recognize them? I don't know what to do Harry."

Harry looked down at her before sitting next to her. "Look," he said, taking her hand. "We're in this together right? I promised you that when we were little?"

She smiled. "I remember that. That kid who looked like a troll tried to take my necklace from me but you stood up for me."

"We orphans have to stick together," he answered with a smile. "I won't leave you behind."

He reached over and took her necklace for a second and looked at the words,_ 'Together at Hogwarts.' _"Look," he said firmly, "Whoever gave you this must have loved you. And if they are still alive, then they will be waiting for you at Hogwarts."

They looked up at the signs again. If they took the left path, then they would have secure jobs. But at the same time they could give up ever finding their families. But if they took the right and headed to Hogsmeade, then they could try and get a train to somewhere… and then…?

He ran his hands through his hair before he got up and yelled out, "Can't we get a break for once?! Come on! We need a sign! Something! Anything?! We don't know what else to do!"

He then sat back down in the road grumpily, Hermy giggled a little as they waited. But as they waited, something ginger flashed by.

They jumped and got up at once to see that it was a large, ginger cat with a squashed face.

"Oh, it's just a cat," Harry said in relief. "For a second I thought it was something dangerous."

"Oh, hello there," Hermy cooed as she held out her hand to the feline. The cat blinked before it moved up to her and rubbed its head against her hand, purring loudly.

"Hi there," Harry said dully. "But we don't have time for this. We're waiting for a sign."

Suddenly the cat leapt up pushing Hermy into the snow. She yelped in fear but the cat just grabbed her tattered scarf and pulled. It pulled her hard and she was dragged slightly to the right.

"Hey, let go," Harry said, when it grabbed the end of his cloak and pulled him towards the right as well, but the cat was persistent.

"I don't believe this. A cat wants us to go to Hogsmeade," Harry grumbled, pulling his cloak free. Then realization struck them as they looked down at the cat and then up to each other.

"You don't think…?" he asked. She just shrugged as they glanced down the path, fearfully though. Could they do it?

"Alright, alright," Harry said as Hermy wrapped her scarf around her head again. "I guess I get the idea."

He looked to Hermy, who hesitated, and then nodded. "Ok," she said. "What else do we have to lose?"

She bent down and picked up the cat, "I think I'll name you Crookshanks."

And so they took the right path, only hoping that it was the right choice. They walked on for a short time, both of them talking about their plans.

"You think we can try and get some money when we get there?" Harry asked her.

"It shouldn't be too difficult," she told him as she petted the cat. "Even if we do, we can't get the best kind of tickets. Maybe baggage if we're lucky."

"I don't care," Harry said firmly, "Once we get the tickets though, what then?"

"Godric's Hallow," she told him and he looked at her in surprise. "Come on," she sighed. "You know where you're from. And you know your family's name. You can go there and see if you can find them."

"But I'm not leaving you," he said firmly.

"And if you do find them?" she asked.

"Then I'll leave for a little while so that we can find your family," he said resolutely and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"And if we can't find them, then we can go back to my family together, right?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "And if I don't have any other family, well it works out anyway."

At that moment, they came across the village of Hogsmeade in the distance. They ran the rest of the way, Crookshanks purring.

*Several hours later*

"Ron, are you sure about this?" Ginny asked worriedly, running a hand through her red hair.

"Of course. Everyone is talking about it. They're looking for the missing Princess and we are going to find her." Ron said his blue eyes flashing mischievously.

"But Ron, we how can we even be sure that she is the Princess even if we find her?" Ginny asked.

"That's the hard part," he muttered. "But dad was one of the Royal Guards remember. He and the others were killed that night… the royals owe us don't they?"

"I guess," she said slowly. They walked to where they lived in the old palace. No-one ever went there anymore. Many people believed it cursed with bad luck.

"We just have to hope that we get lucky," Ron said firmly as he began looking around the old palace, wondering if he could sell anything in here for money.

*Meanwhile*

Harry and Hermy had been standing in line for a train ticket at the Hogsmeade station, they had been standing in line for so long that the sun was beginning to set.

By the time that they finally made it up to the ticket manager, he asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"We want to know how expensive tickets are," Hermy said at once.

"That depends on where you want to go," he answered bitterly. "The farther away you go, the more money it will cost. Look up at the map."

They looked up at the map, it was marked with hundreds of villages, towns, and places. Each one had a price underneath it. They checked the prices and could see that they were expensive. Godric's Hallow was much cheaper than Hogwarts, but it was still far out of their ability to pay for… seeing how they didn't have any money at all.

"And for two?" Harry asked grimly.

"Twice as much," Hermy answered him miserably.

"Good, now that you wasted enough time," The ticket manager snapped, "Get lost."

"Now what?" Harry asked as they left, Hermy petting Crookshanks to prevent herself from crying.

"We can try and make some money in town," Hermy said softly. "And once we get enough…?" but before she could finish, they heard someone.

"Pst!" They looked up to see a grubby man that looked a bit like a bloodhound there, a body of whiskey was in his hands as he stumbled from an ally way. Hermy pointed a finger at them, making sure that he was talking to them. "Yeah you!"

"Who are you?" Harry asked suspiciously. "What do you want with us?"

"Mundungus," he croaked, the man was obviously drunk. "You both said that you need tickets? Go… and find some fello… named… named Ron. I hear he might—hic—be able to help."

They looked at each other before Harry asked, "Where do we find this guy?"

"You don't—hic—trust me?" the man asked, having noticed this.

"No," Hermy said. "You're drunk."

"At the old Palace," he said, grinning stupidly as he wandered back to his alley. "But you didn't hear it from me."

With that, he snuck back into the shadows, and when they left, they could hear him throwing up in the alley.

"What do you think?" Hermy asked him as they wandered through the crowded streets. "Do we go?"

"Dunno," Harry answered. "But still, I guess it wouldn't hurt to check it out right? We might be able to sneak in and stay the night, it's getting darker every second. If we do find this Ron guy, either he can help us, or we can find another way to get those tickets. And Hermy…?"

Hermy stopped walking and Harry, who was already a few feet ahead of her, looked back at her. "Hermy?"

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"For what?" he asked coming back to her.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just felt the need to apologize. I feel like we're just running around in circles."

"Well we are," he said and her mouth twitched a little at that. "But let's make a promise," he said to her. "No matter what, we will stay together. Until we both found what we're looking for, right?"

She smiled and held her pinky up. It was the same thing they did the day that they became friends when that human troll picked on her. "Ok, it's a promise," she said. "And if you break it, then I will make you pay."

He laughed as he reached out and used his pinky to grab hers. "Promise."

*Later*

Peering into the boarded up windows of Hogsmeade castle, the two wondered who could possibly live there. The man they had asked directions for wondered if they had been joking when they told him that they was looking for someone who lived there.

Suddenly Crookshanks leapt down from Hermy's arms and escaped through a gap between two lose boards and inside the palace.

"No," Hermy groaned desperately. "Crookshanks, where are you going? Come back!"

"Damn cat," Harry growled, trying to see through the boards. They could hear the cat purring from inside.

"Crookshanks," he hissed. "Get back here!" But the cat didn't come back out.

Hermy tried to slip in after him, but it was too small so she tried pulling on the boards—which caused her to fall backwards with a loud crash to follow. They both stared at the board in her hands before Harry then gripped another one of the boards and pulled hard. The wood came away with a loud crack and left a big enough hole in the door. They hoped no-one heard and climbed through the hole, and walked inside.

The place was huge; with old relics left around gathering dust, though most of it was destroyed and scorched; most likely due to the fire years ago.

"Crookshanks?" Harry hissed, walking around. His cloak gave him some warmth in the non-heated castle. He picked up a plate and blowing off the dust as he examined it. "Looks like no one's been here since the rebellion," he said holding it up to look. "How could anyone live here? What do you think Hermy? Hermy?"

But his friend didn't answer.

He looked up to see that Hermy was staring around her at the paintings and portraits. As soon as she had entered this place, a strong sense of déjà vu came over her. She walked forward slowly as if in a trance. She looked at the portraits lining the walls of the palace with eyes so wide that she looked like an owl.

"Hermy?" Harry asked worriedly.

She looked at him and said, "I think I've been here before."

"Really?" Harry asked putting the plate down and walking over to her. It was the first time that Hermy had ever been able to say something about her past. "When?"

"I think I might've been here before I lost my memory," she said softly, looking up at the walls.

"Can you remember anything?" he asked excited.

She moved softly from the room to a large staircase and stood at the top of it. It was an enormous ballroom. As he looked at her, for a second, it was as though he was seeing someone else stand there.

As for Hermy, she was staring around her, "I know all this… this feels so familiar but I don't know why."

Suddenly she saw something moving on the dance floor.

"What?" she called staring ahead of her.

"What, what?" Harry called worriedly. Hermy didn't answer for a moment. For a second, she could've sworn that she saw the shadows of a little girl and an old woman hugging for a second.

"Hermy?" Harry called again.

"Huh?" she asked. "It's nothing! Must have been a trick of the light." She looked around as she walked down the stars for a few paces. Everywhere she turned, it was like memories of a dream. Running a hand over a mural of the royal crest, she began to explore even more of the place. She started to hum a tune she had known since before she could remember. She silently went through the halls as she hummed to herself she stepped down onto the dance floor and was singing a song softly to herself, not sure where the words were coming from.

_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald,  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling,  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot._

And for a second she felt as though she was in another life as she started to laugh. There were others with her and music was playing… for a second she could almost remember being here. And then…

As she ended the song, a voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Hey!"

Harry and Hermy's heads looked up and could see that someone was coming towards them.

They were startled and so they continued to run back up the stairs and through the halls. The guy yelled, but they knew that he was right on their heels, if the sounds of footsteps told them anything. They were nearing the hole in the wall they entered from, when all of a sudden, a girl with long red hair had come out of nowhere and she and Harry collided at a landing where a giant picture hung before they fell.

"Ginny!" the boy yelled furiously just as Hermy shouted, "Harry!"

Harry and Ginny had somehow collided with the other and were on the ground blushing furiously. What was worse, was that Ginny was on top of Harry's chest and Harry had his arms around her waist and neither one was attempting to move.

"Ah…" was all Harry was able to say as he looked into warm brown eyes.

"Hi?" Ginny said, clearly bewildered to what had just happened.

The red head boy, who had to be the girl's brother, came running up and pulled Ginny off him while Hermy helped Harry to stand up.

"How did you get in here?" the boy demanded the two of them, "Who are you?"

Harry and Hermy both looked at them. "Are you Ron?" he asked, and the red-heads looked at each other in surprise.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Listen," Harry said, brushing the dust and ash off his clothes. "We're sorry for coming in here. But our cat…"

"Cat?" Ron repeated skeptically. But at that moment, they heard a loud meow and they turned to see the ginger feline walking towards them with his tail held high.

"Crookshanks," Hermy sighed as she bent down to pick him up.

"We're sorry," she said as Harry looked at Ginny. "He got away from us and we followed to get him."

"Oh, he's cute," Ginny said coming forward to pet his head.

"Shut up, Ginny," Ron said and she turned to face him, her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me what to do," she snapped.

She then turned to face them, "But what were you even doing around here?"

"Well, we need help to get tickets out of here," Harry said hurriedly. "We heard that you can help us out?"

"That depends," Ron said. "We're working to raise money to get tickets out of this dump ourselves. But I don't see why…?"

But he stopped dead as he stared ahead of him as if dumbstruck.

"What?" Hermy asked because Ron was now gapping at her, he then whispered to his sister, "Do you see that?"

"See what?" she asked and he pointed to Hermy.

She looked, and then blinked. "Wow…"

"What?" Hermy asked as Harry had a hand on her shoulder. Neither of them noticing what had caught their attention. Behind them was an enormous portrait of the royal family, and Hermy was standing right next to the painting of the youngest child, Princess Hermione.

As the two gazed at the picture behind her, they both noticed the uncanny resemblance to that of Hermione.

**(How is this story shaping up so far? Like I said, this is a HP twist. And while it may seem like Harry and Ginny are the main focus, it's really going to be Ron and Hermione. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.)**


	3. The Princess?

**Chapter 2: The Princess?**

Ron smiled at Hermy as he slowly began to circle her like a vulture, trying to see her from every angle.

"What are you doing?" she asked stiffly. She felt as if she was on display, and she wasn't enjoying this one bit.

"Nothing, it's just that you look like her," he said, pointing to the portrait behind them. They turned to see the little girl with the rest of her family.

"You know?" Harry said to Hermy, "He's right. She could be your little sister." He tilted his head and said, "Wait… she looks a lot like you did when we first met…"

"Wow," was all she could whisper out as she stared up at the girl's face.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Oh, ah…" Harry stuttered. "My name is Harry and this is Hermy."

"Hermy?" Ron repeated and Hermy blushed.

"Don't laugh," she said blushing. "I hate that name to."

"Well, it just so happens Hermy… wait, aren't there a last names for you both?" Ginny asked.

"My name is Potter," Harry said at once. "Harry Potter."

"And you?" Ginny asked Hermy who looked down. "Look," she said. "I know that this is going to sound crazy, but I don't know my last name. I was found wandering the streets at eight years old."

"And before eight?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Look I'm sorry but I have very few memories of my past," she confessed, wondering why he was so interested in this.

"We've been at an orphanage for the last ten years," Harry explained. "Now that we're of age, they kicked us out. So we're trying to get some tickets out of here and heading to Hogwarts. We were told that you could help us out."

"That's… perfect," Ginny said in an undertone to her brother. Shaking her head a little, she said, "Well, we've been talking about earning money for some tickets."

"Yeah," Ron said. "What reasons do you have for going to Hogwarts, is there family there or something?"

Hermy shifted nervously, "Um, well that's the thing; I don't know. I have been an orphan since I was eight and my only clue is Hogwarts."

"We're trying to see if we can track down any family," Harry explained. "We were told that you could help us?"

"Well, we were just talking about looking for Princess Hermione," Ginny said, smiling innocently.

"Princess?" they both questioned, looking at each other.

"Yep," Ginny explained as they walked through the palace. "See… we are going to reunite Lady Minerva with her granddaughter."

"I thought the whole of the royal family was dead," Hermy said at once. "That's what everyone says isn't it?"

"Yes," Ron said. "But the youngest daughter might still be alive today and we are hoping to re-unite the Dowager Empress with her granddaughter." He looked at her up and down and said, "You know you look a lot like her."

Hermy laughed. "Well, I'm no princess I can tell you that."

"A resemblance is all," Ginny said looking her up and down. "Sorry, but you look a lot like her. The same eyes, face… you're eighteen right?"

She nodded.

"That's how old she would be now," Ron said softly. "If she's still alive…"

"Whoa," Harry interrupted them. "Are you saying…?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you think that you think that I'm this Hermione?" Hermy finished, rolling her eyes, her tone highly skeptical.

"Look Hermy," Ron said in a business tone. "I have seen hundreds of girls all over this city and none of them looks as close to the resemblance you have."

The two look at each other again and they laughed.

"Me? A princess?" Hermy repeated. "Get real. Well, okay I guess everyone would like to be pretend to be something they're not."

"Why you have no memory of your past before you were eight correct?" Ron asked. "The princess disappeared after the rebellion ten years ago and no one has a clue to what happened to her."

"You're looking for your family right?" Ginny asked. "Well, you can't remember anything before you were eight. Doesn't that seem like a strange coincidence?"

Harry glanced at Hermy, frowning as he thought that over as well.

"You have a clue saying that your family is at Hogwarts," Ron continued. "And that's where the only family member Hermione's got is looking for her."

"Look, I'm sorry but this is crazy," Hermy said, turning and about to leave, Crookshanks purring loudly in her arms.

"But…" Ron said but Ginny cut him off.

"Really wish we could help," she said. "But if we're going to work for some tickets, we aren't going to waste it. Hermione disappeared when she was eight, you can't remember anything before you were eight. You look an amazing amount like her… it's a long shot, but what if it's true?"

Hermy stopped where she stood, but they could all see that she was listening in to everything they were saying. Just then, Ginny dragged Ron off, they walked down the Grand staircase and Ron frowned.

"What are you doing?" he hissed to her. "We have to get that girl to come with us."

"Don't worry she will. Just wait," she said.

Harry and Hermy both looked at each other. "What do you think?" he asked quickly. "If they leave, we might never get another chance."

Hermy wasn't sure what to think. Her? A princess? But she had to admit that it was an unusual coincidence. "I don't know," she whispered.

Harry bit his lip, glance at their retreating backs and called, "Hey! Wait a second!"

They turned to look at them.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Getting us tickets," he whispered back. "What do we have to lose? This could be our only chance."

She frowned, but nodded. "Ok," she answered as the brother and sister walked back. "We'll play along for now."

"Yes?" Ron asked.

"Look," Harry said. "Hermy can't remember who she is or where she's from. Who's to say that she's not a princess, or a duchess or whatever right?"

Both nodded, "It's plausible." Ron contemplated.

"If you are right and Hermy is this girl, then she found her family, but if she's not then this Empress, or whoever she is, should know right away and it's all a mistake right? So if she's not her family then at least we'll know that we tried and then we'll leave?"

"That's true," Ron said eagerly. "So are you coming with us?"

They both shared one more glance before Hermy spoke. "Under one or two conditions."

They looked at her and she took Harry's arm.

"He comes with us," she said firmly.

Harry stared. "You don't have to…?"

"Yes, I do," she whispered back. "We promised each other right?" She looked up at the other two fiercely. "If I'm going, then he comes with us. And we are going to make a quick stop to Godric's Hallow. Agreed?"

"But…" Ron said, but Ginny nodded at once.

"Deal," she said.

"What?" Ron hissed in her ear.

"Why not?" she whispered to him. "If that's all she wants then why not? Besides, Godric's Hallow is on the way there right? What's the harm? OK!" she then said brightly to them both, holding out her hand to Harry and they shook. "May I present her royal highness the Princess Hermione!"

"Together at Hogwarts," Hermy whispered and Harry smiled, almost unwilling to let go of Ginny's hand. But unbeknownst to all of them there was an extra pair of ears to listen to their conversation. If they had looked all they would have seen was a rat running off.

*Meanwhile*

Pink…

If there was one word to describe this room it would be that. It was of a bright pink color, with ribbons, ugly flowers, and little kitten plates up on the wall as they mewed down at her. A woman dressed in pink, looking like a toad was sitting there stirring her tea when a rat came in through a large crack in the wall.

He transformed and looked to Dolores.

"Miss?" he asked fearfully.

"Ah, Peter," she said sweetly. "It's been a long time since you've been here. Have some tea."

"I don't have time," he said nervously. "But there's something you need to know."

"Well, spit it out," she demanded.

"I think… I think that the princess is alive," he said softly.

She looked up, her smile now dangerous.

"Alive? That little brat who let me sink to the bottom of that lake?" she asked. "No, no Peter. That can't be. Hermione is dead."

"But miss… I was just in the palace," he said quickly. "I saw a girl there and she looks just like the princess!"

"So?" she demanded. "I'm sure that there are hundreds of girls who look like her."

"But I overheard them! The girl lost her memory and she was trying to get to Hogwarts to find her family," he said. "What if it's true? We never found the girl's body! She escaped the castle that night. What if it is her?"

She looked at her. "Hermione… alive? Well… what are the odds?" she got up and looked out the window. "Well. I remember so well. I was once a high ranked officer in the royal family. But when they discovered that I was using harsh punishments on some of the children, they banished me! Me!"

Her fingers clutched tightly. "I gave up everything for revenge. I cast a curse to make the royals pay… but you mean to tell me that a little girl got away?!"

Peter cowered back.

"I d-don't know!" he gasped. "I just overheard them! I just saw them talking! There are four of them together! They're living in the old palace and they're trying to get some money for some tickets!"

"If that's true," she said with a little girlish giggle that scared Peter almost as bad as an evil one, "Then we must stop them before it happens."

**(What do you think? Any suggestions to the next chapter?)**


	4. Earning Money

**Chapter 3: Earning Money**

The four of them spent that night in a couple bedrooms that were left mostly undamaged from the fire, in some of the softest beds that they ever had. Though for some of them, the beds that they were used to sleeping in were hard and lumpy, so even the worn stone floors of the palace were softer than what they were used to.

In the morning, they went through the palace, trying to find anything that they could sell for a good price.

"You think that this is a good idea?" Hermy asked nervously as she looked at the carpet. "It's like we're grave robbing. It doesn't seem right."

"Not right?" Ron asked as they examined a flowered vase. "I'll tell you something that's not right. When me and Ginny were little kids, our dad and older brothers were part of the palace guards and staff. The night of the revolt… they were all killed."

Hermy stared at him. "Killed?" she mouthed, looking a little green.

"I'm sorry," Harry said who had been looking through the closets.

"Yeah," Ron muttered, putting the vase down and went to examine some pictures. "Just the two of us and our mother."

"Not that it lasted long," Ginny sighed. "Mum died a while back. We've been stuck living here ever since."

"We've been forced to sell a lot of things just to get food," Ron muttered angrily.

"Hey, it hasn't been easy for us either," Harry said bitterly, having found a fur coat in the back of the closet.

No one said much of anything else as they continued to search. Soon, once they felt that they gathered everything of value in the bedroom, Ginny and Ron both left to search through another. Harry was about to follow, but noticed that Hermy was acting very strange.

"Hermy?" he asked as he watched his friend kneeling on the carpet, and breathing in the scent.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked her.

"Lavender…" she whispered.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"The carpet smells like Lavender," she sighed, her eyes turning dreamy—as if remembering something from a long time ago. "I can't explain it, but it feels like I smelled it somewhere before."

Harry put down the coat and went to sit with her. After a few minutes of sitting there, the red-heads came back in to see what was taking so long.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

Hermy didn't say anything for a few minutes. "This place…" she finally said. "There was so much love here… I… I just…" she then trailed off, as if unable to find the right words.

The red-heads stared at her before they all joined each other in a square on the floor.

"You really don't remember anything before your life at the orphanage?" Ginny asked her, as Hermy closed her eyes, breathing in the scent.

"Nothing," she answered screwing up her eyes in concentration, "I told you. The furthest memory I have was when I was little and I woke up alone in the middle of a train station. I didn't know who I was, or where I came from. All I know is that they found me after a couple days of wandering the streets, trying to remember something and then they brought me to the orphanage."

She looked to Harry, who nodded. "That was when we met and stayed for ten years."

"And you don't have any idea where you came from?" Ginny asked her.

"Nope," Hermy sighed, looking at her. "Heck, I don't even know what my real name is. Hermy was one of the only few things that I did know… but I don't know where that came from."

"And you're trying to find your family, too?" Ginny asked, turning to Harry as she reached over to touch his knee. He looked a little surprise at her sudden closeness, something that she noticed as well and blushed.

"Sorry," she muttered, pulling her hand away.

"No, that's ok," he said. "Anyway, my parents and I were visiting this country when I got lost from them during the revolt. I don't know anything else. I don't know where they are, or even if they're still alive. But I know that I'm from Godric's Hallow. So if they are still alive, they'd be there wouldn't they?"

"But why didn't they ever come back and look for you?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. He thought all that over plenty of times. "I don't know," he muttered. "But there's a chance that I might have some family there. At least my godfather…"

"Godfather?" Ron asked, leaning in.

"Sirius is his name," Harry said, shutting his own eyes and thinking back. "I don't remember too much, but I remember that he was always so happy and laughing every time he came over. He was like a second father to me. If my parents aren't there then maybe…?"

"You think that he might still be there?" Ginny asked softly.

"Dunno," he answered, opening his eyes and rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know why they never came looking for me. I know that… I know that there's a chance that they could've gotten killed in the revolt and that's probably the most likely reason why they never found me. But… but Sirius didn't go with us on our trip. If he is still alive… if any of them are alive… then that's where they'd be. That's where I need to go."

Ginny gave him a sad look. "And what if you can't find them?" Ron asked.

He shrugged. "At least I'd know I tried."

Hermy sighed, fiddling with her necklace.

"What's that?" Ron asked, noticing it.

"Nothing," Hermy said, tucking it back under her clothes, "I don't know when I'm playing with it, sometimes."

"But what is it?" Ron asked her.

"Nothing you need to know about," she said, giving him a dark look. "Look, it's the only thing I have left from my family."

"Well, that's a bit girly," he said, and Ginny groaned.

Hermy gave him a nasty look as she stood up. "Maybe that's because I AM a girl!"

"Whoa now!" Ron said, standing up, holding up his hands. "I didn't mean anything like that. I only think that…"

"Well, I don't care what you think, whether it's girly or not it's the only connection I have!" she yelled and march away. When she was out of the room, the other two were glaring at him.

"What?" he asked them, not understanding what he did. "I was just asking."

"You still act like an eight-year-old," Ginny said, shaking her head as she got up. "Hermy?" she called out, "Hermy wait! Let me tell you something about my idiot brother!"

Ron watched as they went through the door and turned to Harry. "What is up with them?"

Harry just looked at him. "You just had to kill the mood didn't you?"

*Later*

After Ginny calmed Hermy down and they came back to help go through the rest of the things they had.

They all found some clothes that would fit, and some old trunks. "This should work," Ginny said in an upbeat voice. "All we got to do is sell some things for the tickets and then get out of here."

"Great," Harry said, still looking at some of the things they found. "But there really isn't much."

"Yeah," she sighed. "The fire destroyed most of the good stuff, and me and Ron had to sell a lot of things just to survive this long. So, the castle is pretty much picked over."

"That's ok," Ron said, forcefully as he packed a bag of trinkets. "Hopefully, this will be the last time that we stay here. If the bargaining goes good, then we'll have enough for a trip out of here."

"I hope so," Ginny said as she pulled out a map.

"What's that?" Hermy asked.

"A map that I took from the train station," she answered, "It shows all the places, and the costs. Now…" she traced her finger along a road. "To me, this seems like the best way."

Hermy leaned over to look as the boys came over to look as well. "I see," she said, looking where Ginny was pointing to. "Even if we take the cheapest tickets we can find and leave on this particular train tomorrow, then we'll be at the docks to hop a ship sometime tomorrow late afternoon."

Ron also leaned over to look at the check marks that had been put in several places. "But according to this, we'll have to stop in three different places before we get to Hogwarts," he stated confused, "Why not just take one straight to Hogwarts and save the time?"

"Because one of these stops will be at Godric's Hallow," Ginny said, smiling at Harry, who grinned back. "And second, if we want a ship to take us straight to Hogwarts, I know for a fact that is completely out of our price range. Really, if we do manage to get a pretty knut with all this junk, we'd be lucky to go on as baggage."

"I think we can live with it," Harry nodded. "So it will take us a few days longer, so what? I've waited ten years, I think I can wait a little longer."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ginny asked, rolling up the map with a grin on her face. "Let's see how bartering goes."

But as they headed to the exit, Hermy couldn't help but notice that Harry seemed to be spending more and more time with Ginny. When they climbed out of the hole, she left Crookshanks on a few pillows and told him that she'd be back soon, she turned to Harry and asked, "You like her?"

"What?" Harry asked startled. "She's just a new friend, we barely know them."

She just smiled as she watched him follow her. Though she couldn't help but feel as though she was losing her best friend as she followed as well.

*Hours later*

"_Ten galleons?_" repeated Ginny in outrage at a man. "For that locket? That's chicken feed! This locket once belonged to the royal family! It's clearly worth a lot more than ten galleons!"

"Look," the man snapped. "I think that's a reasonable price. How do I know that this isn't just made of cheap metal?"

"Oh, I'll give you cheap," she snarled as she began arguing with him.

Hermy held back a laugh. The four of them set up a booth in the center of town, and piled all the treasures they could from the palace. Harry was speaking to a woman about trading for a slightly burnt tiara as Ron had just sold a large and cracked ring. She looked down at the recent item she was trying to sell, a small golden cup, and was wondering how to do so. But the sun was setting and were trying to get rid as much as they could before they were forced to return to the castle.

"Fifty galleons," Ginny snapped, folding her arms determinedly and glared at the man. "Nothing less than fifty."

"Deal," he man snapped, reaching into his pocket and dropping a small pouch onto the table. "Take it and be grateful you little brat."

"And I hope that it strangles you someday!" Ginny shouted after him after he picked up the locket and walked away.

"You think that's the best way to get customers?" Hermy asked her, her eyebrows raised.

"I've dealt with losers like him all my life," she said, taking the pouch and putting it into her pocket. "You can't let them walk all over you. You got to show them you mean business. We've got to get as much as we can out of these things here. We've got to by train tickets, ship tickets, along with food or anything else we might need. Besides, he was a jerk anyway."

Hermy thought that over and nodded in agreement, so when the next person to come up and ask about the cup, she wouldn't let him go without buying it, and making another sixty galleons. Their sale ended when the boys both got rid of their final pieces and everything else they bought with them. Taking their sacks of gold and silver with them, they ran back to the palace and counted out all their loot.

But they didn't need to count it to know that they were holding more money than they ever held in their lives.

"More than enough to get out of here," Ron said grinning from ear to ear as he bit down on one of the gold pieces. "And hopefully anything else we may need."

"We don't need to worry about clothes," Hermy said at once smiling. "We've got plenty of nice things here." And indeed, she had changed into a very pretty, midnight blue robe she had found in one of the closets.

"We can get a quick dinner and some food for the morning, and take the first train out of here," Harry grinned as well. "And then we'll be on our way."

"Well," Ginny said jumping up. "What are we waiting for? Let's get packed with whatever we've got left and get a good night sleep!"

And that's how they spent the evening there. Ginny took a few coins and went down to the market for their dinner and Harry took another small bag of coins and went down to buy the tickets while Hermy and Ron finished packing.

They filled the trunks they found with whatever they didn't sell. The nice robes they found, Hermy found some unburned books that she wanted to read during the trip, and even found a basket that she will be using for Crookshanks.

"What's with you and Harry?" Ron asked suddenly.

She looked up as she finished folding a black cloak. "What?" she asked.

"You and Harry?" he repeated as he closed the trunk and sat on it so he could talk. "You both grew up together?"

"Oh," Hermy said as she also closed the lid of her trunk. "Yeah, see after they found me, they sent me off to the orphanage. The Shrieking Shack they called it. That's where I met him. At first, we pretty much ignored each other, but after this bully tried to pick on me, he stood up for me. You know, he looked like a troll that bully."

"So he saved you from a troll?" Ron asked, looking at her.

She laughed, "Well, I'm the one who saves him by telling him to keep that temper of his. But since we're adults now, we were thrown out of the orphanage. We were told to go to a village called Grunnings for jobs, but we decided to come here instead. And we met you both."

She sighed as she glanced up at him. "You really think that I'm this Princess Hermione?"

He shrugged. "You sure look like her. And you're the same age she would've been if she's still alive, and you don't remember anything before the revolt. That would explain why no one's ever found you."

"I don't know," she said, folding her legs up and underneath her. "When I left the orphanage, I had no idea that that anything like this would happen. But now…?"

"We'll be out soon," Ron nodded determinedly. "And good riddance."

"What about you?" she asked.

"What about me?" he questioned.

"Sorry, I just… wanted to know," she said softly. "What was it like? Having a mother?"

He toyed with the helm of his dusty robes. "It was great… at least it was. See, we used to live here as servants, but after dad and our brothers were killed, we moved back with mum. She raised us for about six years… but… she got sick… and just couldn't get better. At least that's what the Healers all said."

"So you've been taking care of your sister since then?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I try. But I think she's the one who's looking after me most of the time. After we lost mum, we were kicked out of our house and were on the streets for awhile. But one day, when a man was eyeing Ginny in a bad way, we ran in here and hid." He then held out his arms to the giant ballroom that they were currently sitting in. "We've been in here ever since. We liked the clothes, but if we go out in them instead of rags, people come up and try to rob us. So we just wear these old things so people tend to leave us alone."

He pointed to the tattered bits of garments that they'd been wearing until a little while ago.

"That's makes sense," she said. "But what will you both do when you leave here?"

"Well," he shrugged, he didn't want to tell her about the award money, "You know. Anywhere has got to be better than here."

She smiled sadly, her fingers going to her necklace again.

But before she could think of anything to say, they heard footsteps and when they looked up, Harry and Ginny were back. Ginny held up the bags of food, and Harry flashed the tickets.

"We're all set," he grinned as he sat down next to them and took a loaf of bread that Ginny passed him. "We'll take the train at exactly eleven o'clock tomorrow. And by tomorrow night we'll be at the docks getting on a ship."

Ron clapped his hands as he reached in and took some pumpkin juice. "A toast!" he called out. "To getting the hell out of this dump!"

"Cheers!" they all laughed as they drank to that. After that, they had a bit of a party, dancing, singing, and feasting—none of them could ever remember having such a good time.

But when it was time for bed, Harry tucked the tickets into his trunk and announced that it be best if they woke up as early as possible. No one complained, but when Hermy went to sleep, she couldn't help but feel a sense of Déjà vu.

She couldn't explain why though… but it happened when she went to her room. She had been sleeping in, what appeared to have been a young girl's room—with a large bed, some toys, a little dollhouse, and shelves full of books. It was the kind of room that she would've loved if she had been little…

She just flopped down onto the dusty bed, her hand around the hourglass once again. Though most of the palace was gone… it all… felt so familiar.

When Crookshanks meowed and jumped up onto her bed, she couldn't help but feel sad when she thought about leaving this place forever. When she slept, she dreamed about an old woman humming a song to her… one that made her laugh.

**(End of another chapter. What do you all think? Hope you enjoyed it!)**


	5. Train Ride Turbulence

**Chapter 4: Train Ride Turbulence**

"Where are they now?"

Dolores was sitting there in her trademark pink, and sipping tea with her pinky out. "I'm getting tired of this Peter," she said with her girlish giggle. "Now where are those four children?"

"I followed them to the train station," he answered anxiously. "They were getting on a train to the docks. I think that they're heading to Hogwarts."

"Excellent," Dolores laughed putting down her teacup and lightly dabbed at her lips with her napkin. "I really do hope that they enjoy themselves… for it will be the last ride that they'll ever take."

*Meanwhile*

The four teens had changed into their better clothes and tossed their rags into their trunks as the train sped past the snowy landscape. Harry was staring outside the window at the rolling hills of snow and frozen mountains in the distance as Hermy cooed and petted Crookshanks; which left Ginny to do the paperwork. Ron, who had been jacked out of the window seat by Crookshanks, had come back from the bathroom and he sat next to Hermy.

"The cat gets the window seat," he muttered in disgust as he sat next to Hermy, who was fiddling with the chain around her neck. "You spoil that thing you know? And will you quit fiddling with that thing? It's getting annoying."

Hermy slumped back in her seat and glared at Ron, "How is it that you know so much about what I should do?"

"I once worked in the palace, I saw how they always acted," he said. "I'm only trying to help."

"Do you really think that I'm royalty?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes," he answered.

"Then shut up and quit telling me what to do," she snapped as she turned to look out at the window as well. Ron gaped at her like a fish as the other two laughed at the look on his face.

"You think that you'd learn by now Ron?" Harry asked happily.

"Oh, shut up," Ron snapped and marched out of the compartment, muttering furiously under his breath the whole way.

"My brother is as polite as ever," Ginny said rolling her eyes. "You get used to it."

The train continued to move along at a good pace, and it was about twenty minutes later when Ron came back.

"What do you want?" Hermy asked.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant so much to you," he said and Hermy glared at him suspiciously. Her hand gripped her necklace and she nodded before being able to let him to go back to his seat.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," he said carefully.

"I think so too, so I welcome your apology," Hermy said.

"You both sound like an old married couple," Ginny laughed and they looked at her in horror.

"_WHAT? _Shut up!" he shouted at her.

"I was only making an observation," she said grinning as she finished the papers dragged Harry with her out of his seat. Once they were gone, a few moments of silence fell and then Hermy spoke again, "Are you going to miss it?"

"What?" Ron asked coldly.

"Hogsmeade?" she said slowly. "Are you going to miss it?"

"No," he said without any hesitation. "I've had enough of this dump."

"It's your home though," she said softly.

"No, just because I used to live there doesn't make it a home to me," he said firmly, folding his arms and glared at the opposite wall. "I told you last night. It brings back to many bad memories."

Hermy looked at him sadly. "What are you going to do when we get to Hogwarts?"

"I told you," he said, though she could tell that some of his anger was leaving. "I don't know yet. That depends on what we find when we get there."

Just then, Harry and Ginny came back in and the two of them fell silent. "We have a problem," Harry said as Ginny kept looking up and down the hallway.

"What?" they both asked, seeing the nervous looks on their faces.

"The papers," he answered anxiously. "They don't have the seal of the Ministry."

"So?" Ron asked, but Hermy gasped.

"That means that they'll know that they're fakes," she asked.

"We've got to move," Ginny said at once.

"That's what I hate about this government," Harry said bitterly, grabbing his trunk. "You can't even breathe without doing the right paperwork. Fine, we'll go to the baggage cart and sneak off when we get there."

They stood and Hermy grabbed Crookshanks, who sleepily looked around at them all, as they left the compartment and headed down to the baggage cart.

"It's freezing in here," Ginny hissed to Ron and he nodded in agreement, rubbing his arms. Hermy went over to the corner and Crookshanks licked her face gently. She smiled slightly and pulled her arms around herself.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked and she looked up at him. She nodded, though Ron couldn't help but notice that she was shivering.

He then took off his coat and handed it to her. "No, that's ok," Hermy said. "I'll just…"

"We're all going to freeze here," Ginny moaned.

"We can thaw out when we get on the boat," Harry muttered, half joking, "But let's make sure that we avoid this problem again."

Ginny glared at him but didn't say anything when suddenly the train lurched forward and Ginny fell forward hitting his arms as they fell. Hermy crashed into Ron, causing them both to fall.

Hermy moved back up as Ron clutched his head where he hit one of the trunks. Worried, she grabbed his arm. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"

"I've been better," he hissed through gritted teeth, both of his hands gripped tightly over the spot where he hit his head. She glanced up at Ginny, who was now on Harry's chest again.

"You know we really need to stop meeting like this," he said as Ginny went red and rolled off.

"Yeah," she said leaping up and shoving the luggage out of her way.

"What was that?" Harry exclaimed as they all glanced around to see bags, suitcases, and trunks all on the floor.

"I don't know," Hermy said as they all got up. Cursing under his breath, Ron staggered over to the window and looked out to see what was happening. "We're still moving!" he called. "But…"

"Something's wrong, the train's going a lot faster than it did before," Ginny said, and then ran to the door.

"Get away from there," Ron yelled running over to her. But Ginny frowned at him

"Something must have happened to the driver," she said hurriedly. "I need to go check and see what's going on!"

"No, you're staying right here where I can keep an eye on you," Ron said, grabbing her arm as she opened the door.

"Don't you dare tell me not to…" Ginny began, but before she could say another word, Harry ran ahead and shoved passed them both.

"I'll go!" he called and disappeared.

"Hey wait a minute!" Ginny called after him.

"He'll be fine," Hermy said, looking around at the window. Ginny nodded but the frown did not leave her face as she looked down the hall at his retreating back.

Meanwhile Harry was stumbling over the bags that kept sliding under his big feet. But he finally made it to the other end. He jumped into the driver's engine.

"HELLO, IS ANYONE HERE?" he yelled recoiling from the heat of the locomotive's engine. But what he saw scared him so badly that he turned and fled back to his friends as fast as he could go.

"Ok, I've got some bad news!" he yelled. "There is no one driving the train and we're now going faster every second."

"What do you mean there's no one driving the train?!" Hermy screamed at him.

"I mean there's no one there!" he shouted back.

"You guys might want to look at this!" Ron called from the other end of the car.

"Oh, what now?" Ginny demanded. "What could be worse than being stuck in a train with no one driving it?!"

"I don't know how, but the rest of the train is gone," he said, pointing out the window. Harry stood on his toes and saw that the rest of the train falling behind.

"No one is driving this train; we need to separate our car," Ron called.

"Why don't we just wait for the train to slow down?" Hermy suggested.

Suddenly there was a shake and everyone fell down once again. When they regained their footing they noticed that they were going faster than ever. "Ok, I vote that we jump off!" Ron called, raising his hand high, as if they were voting. "Before something really bad happens!"

"Did you say _jump_?" Ginny demanded, holding onto the side of the wall for support as she kept a hand on her arm as if it was hurting. "After you!"

"Look," Harry shouted, trying to push off several other bags off him as Hermione had to crawl over to the open door. "We disconnect the car from the engine and we can jump off when it stops!"

"The cables are here!" Hermy called from the door. "All we have to do is get them separated!"

"How do we do that though?" Ginny screamed at them. "They're wielded together! We need to get something to break this!"

"You get something big and heavy!" Hermy shouted as she ran forward and grabbed a shovel from the engine car. She stuck it in the wielded joint and started to try to force them apart.

"What do they teach you in those orphanages?" Ron shouted.

"That you've got to take care of yourself," Harry called back, finding a long, metal pipe and started to help her.

Ron and Ginny stared for a moment before they both found heavy items and started to help them. As the car got faster and faster, they were almost there.

"Hit harder!" Ginny yelled, sweat pouring down her face.

And with one last hit, the two cars were force apart—with the girls still on the engine car.

"Jump back!" Harry shouted, holding out his hand as they were steadily moving apart. Since they were only a foot apart, Ginny had no problem jumping over. Hermy hesitated. "Come on!" Harry and Ron called.

Hermy bit her lip and jumped over to them, grabbing Ron's hand and smashing into him.

The four of them watched as the engine took off down the track; and while they were still going fast, the speed was already starting to feel slower.

"Okay," Hermy sighed in relief, hugging Ron. "We're going to be ok. We've got plenty of track left. We'll just wait until it stops and…" but she never had a chance to finish because at that moment they heard an enormous boom. They all looked ahead and they screamed in terror when they saw that there was a bridge ahead.

It had been destroyed… and the engine had driven off the edge.

"WE'RE DONE FOR!" Ron screamed, losing his head completely.

"There's no choice!" Hermy screamed. "We've got to get off!"

"It's now or never," Harry yelled over the screech of the wheels as he pulled Ginny up.

"Are you crazy?" Ginny shouted.

"You've got a better idea?" Ron demanded as he grabbed Ginny and pushed her through the open doors. Ginny screamed out curses at him as she landed in the snow before he jumped after her. It wasn't enough to kill him, but he couldn't say that it didn't hurt. He felt someone land on top of him and he grunted in pain.

"Oh, Ron!" it was Hermy. "I'm so sorry!" He heard her wince in pain, for at that moment they heard a loud boom, much like the one before and knew that the car they had been in had gone over the edge. He looked around him to see if everyone was ok.

Hermy was spitting out snow and blood, looking like a snowman as she forced herself to get back up on shaking legs. She was holding onto Crookshanks basket and he could hear the cat hissing from inside. Harry was much farther away, obviously having been the last person to leave, and was now fighting his way over to them.

"Are you okay?" Harry called to them.

Ron felt a sensitive spot on his back and said, "I'm alive if that's what you mean."

Harry looked around to see Ginny now struggling to get out of a deep patch of snow and went to go help as Hermy helped Ron up. As soon as he was on his feet, Hermy gave him a long hug. "Thank God," she whispered. "That could've been us."

Feeling very embarrassed, Ron patted her on top of her head and muttered, "Y-yeah. But we're alive aren't we?"

"Over here!" Harry's voice called as he moved Ginny. They could both hear the anxiety in his tone and knew right away that something was wrong. They struggled through the deep snow and over to the two. Ginny was lying on her back, holding her elbow tightly as Harry knelt next to her.

"What's wrong?" Ron demanded, running the last few yards.

"Her arm," Harry muttered, "She says that it's hurting."

"I think I must've landed on it the wrong way," she hissed, holding it tightly.

"Let me look," Harry said. He gently took Ginny' arm in his hand and Ginny winced as she saw her arm was pointing at a strange angle, there was also a long gash running half of her arm. Ron was cursing loudly.

"Is it broken?" he demanded, terror in his tone. Hermy went around to Ginny's other side and looked as well.

"No," she said, "I don't think it's broken, but it looks like it's been dislocated."

"Can you fix it?" Ron asked worriedly and Harry nodded.

"Popping it back into place isn't hard. But we have to worry about the gash too," he said, looking around. "See if anything fell off the train. We can use the snow to help…"

"How do you know?" Ginny asked, as he made a large snowball and pressed it against the bleeding arm.

"Getting injured in a building full of orphans isn't uncommon," Harry said at once. "I once had my shoulder dislocated and I know how bad it hurts."

"But you can fix it?" she asked, trying to sit up, but Hermy forced her to lay back.

"It's going to hurt," Harry said. "We'll have to pop it back into place." Harry took off his own black cloak and wrapped it around her as the white snow started turning pink.

"I feel so stupid," she muttered to him as he used the snow to numb the pain. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," he said. His hands were on her arm. "This will hurt…"

"I'll be fine," she muttered, closing her eyes and held her breath. And with a sudden jerk, she had to bite back a scream of pain as she felt her arm go back in place. But almost at once, the pain had lessen and her arm felt more normal.

"You ok?" Harry's voice asked and she opened one eye to look into his own. It was something she noticed twice before… she remembered the other day of hearing her brother shouting back at the palace and went running out to see what was wrong, and she got a shock running into him… and then again just now on the train. But he had the most beautiful green eyes that she had ever seen.

"Do you feel hot?" Harry asked, concern in his tone.

"No, why do you ask?" she questioned in confusion.

"Your face is all red," he answered, packing some more snow so that he could put some on her forehead.

"I'm fine," she said softly.

Ron and Hermy had ripped a few clothes apart and had wrapped her arm up before making a sling. "This should last until we can get to town and find a healer," Hermy said once Ginny was able to sit up.

"Think you can last that long?" Harry asked, Ginny nodded turning pale at the pain her arm. Harry, who had been able to save his father's cloak, wrapped it around her shoulders as Ron helped her up.

"How far is it until we get to town?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Hermy said, looking around them at the snow-covered wilderness. "But it can't be too far… we just have to find some way around this ravine and then follow the tracks.

"I guess that this is our stop," Ginny said, trying to make a joke, but winced at her arm.

"Let's go then," Ron said at once, holding onto his sister's shoulders. Ginny staggered for a moment before regaining her balance. They followed Harry and Hermy through the snow, Hermy carrying Crookshanks basket.

They turned and walked. They walked and walked, trying desperately to find a way to get across the ravine, and stay close to the tracks. Ginny felt her eyes closing slowly and snapped them open again. She knew that she had to stay awake but was finding it difficult. Her footsteps slowed and she suddenly felt very dizzy.

"Ginny, are you okay?" she heard Ron ask and looked up from her feet, having trouble seeing.

"I don't feel so…" she said, her voice slurred, and suddenly she fell.

"GINNY!" he screamed as Harry and Hermy both turned to see and ran back to her.

"She's alright, she just fainted," Hermy said, running Ginny's face. "We've got to get her warm. It's no use. She can't walk like this. We have to carry her."

"But why?" Ron asked, looking scared. "We wrapped up her arm."

"She still lost a lot of blood," Hermy said. "We've got to get her to town as soon as we can. It's a good thing that we lost almost everything. We've got to travel light."

"We lost all our money though," Ron muttered. "What are we going to do? Even if we can get to town, we can't afford treatment."

"I wouldn't say that," she said, and to his amazement, she pulled out a pouch of coins.

"How did you…?" Harry gasped at her.

"I took it from one of the trunks just before I jumped," she shrugged. "I know that it was stupid, but we worked so hard to get it…"

"Do you see us complaining?" Ron demanded happily. "Genius! Now all we have to do is get Ginny up."

"We can take turns carrying her," Harry said to Ron, supporting Ginny's shoulders, "I'll take over if you get tired."

"Ok," Ron said, crouching down as Harry helped place Ginny on her brother's back. Ron staggered under her weight, but bravely marched on.

Hermy and Harry walked along side them, with Hermy carrying the basket underneath her arm, trying to find a safe place to cross.

"You know something," Ron gasped. "I've always wondered why people hated taking the train so much. Now I know why."

Harry laughed. "Yeah," he called. "Remind me to never get on one again."

Unknown to any of them, someone was furious at their survival.

*Dolores*

"I don't get it!" she yelled, throwing a kitten plate across the room in her anger. She screamed loudly as the plate was shattered into pieces.

"They were supposed to die!" she yelled as Peter bent down to clean up the mess. "This close…" she yelled, her fingers an inch apart. "They were all that close to death and they slipped away."

"All we need is patience," Peter said fearfully. "You just have to try again and…"

"That's easier said than done, you useless rodent!" she screamed at him.

"They still have plenty of time before they get to Hogwarts," Peter shouted in fear. "You still have plenty of time to think of a way to get rid of them."

Still breathing hard, Dolores looked down at the broken shards and a wicked grin came back to her face. She smoothed out her robes and plastered a smile there and said, "You are right, Peter. I forgot myself. We still have lots of time to get kill the girl. She turned back to the Foe-Glass and looked into it. She could see the three trooping through the snow, carrying the fourth, finally finding a safe crossing and were now on the other side, still making their way to the next town.

She moved her hand and the image moved in closer so that she could get a close-up look at the so-called-princess. "So she's Princess Hermione?" she asked.

"T-that's w-what they all th-think," Peter stuttered, on his knees and now picking up the broken plate again.

"She does look like her," Dolores hissed. "That little brat who caused me to sink in that frozen lake. Yes, she looks just like that girl." An evil smirk appeared on her toad-like face. "I will enjoy killing her."


	6. Across the Sea

**Chapter 5: Across the Sea**

The trio had walked for miles in the frozen snow as they travelled along the train tracks. Every once in awhile Harry and Ron would switch and take turns carrying Ginny.

"So once we get to town," Ron said through chattering teeth as he wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. "And get Ginny fixed up, we'll get tickets for the ship and hope for the best."

"Let me tell you something," Harry said, panting hard with effort of carrying Ginny's dead weight on his back, "If the ship we're on ends up sinking, I'm not swimming all the way to land."

"We should be in town soon," Hermy panted, her face red from the cold.

Ron then went running up a snowy hill. "Hold on!" he called back to them as he slipped and slid back down a few feet as he fought his way to the top. "I'm going to see if I can see anything!"

They both waited as he took an unusually long time getting to the top of the hill and looked around.

"YEA!" he yelled, punching the air with joy. "I can see it! They're buildings right in front of us!"

"Are you serious?" Hermy called as she watched Ron slide down the hill on his back to them. Still cold and wet, but grinning from ear to ear, he came back to them.

"A town!" he said happily. "It's still a bit away, but it's a town alright!"

"Oh, thank goodness," Hermy said and they all began moving at a much faster pace. "We'll be able to get some help for Ginny, some food, and find out where we are!"

"Yep," Harry grunted, glancing back to see Ginny's pale face. "She's needs it."

"Just be careful with her," Ron warned, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I'm not gonna drop her!" he told him firmly. "But if you rather take her?"

Ron nodded firmly and they moved Ginny off Harry's shoulders, and back onto Ron. But, of course, he was so tired that they both thought that he was going to fall down.

"Maybe I should take over again?" Harry suggested worriedly. "You already carried her a long way…?"

"I can do it," he muttered, but he slipped on the icy tracks and Harry had to reach out to stop him from falling.

"I won't let anything happen to her," Harry repeated, and Ron gave him a look. Ron still wasn't so sure if he could trust just anyone with his sister, but over his shoulder, Ron spotted Hermy's warm eyes and he nodded slowly.

"Ok," he said. "But if she falls, I'm going to kill you."

Harry only smiled as he took over again and trudged down the tracks ahead of them both.

"It's ok," Hermy smiled. "Harry won't do anything inappropriate to her if that's what you're worried about. He's a perfect gentleman…"

"I guess. It's just…" he muttered, walking side-by-side with Hermy. "She's all I got left you know? We lost our parents and all our brothers…?"

"I know," she said softly, reaching over to take his hand in a comforting way. "But listen," she said. "Me and Harry know how you feel. We both lost our families and we want to a chance to get them back."

They walked on in silence for a short time before she asked, "I've been thinking a lot about this ever since we got on that train. What if I'm not this Hermione person? What am I going to do? This is the only lead I've ever had, and if it turns out just to be a wild goose chase then I don't know what I'd do."

Ron looked up at her; wondering just what he should say or do, but Hermy went on speaking.

"I don't know why…" Hermy whispered as she cooed to the frustrated meow from within the wicker basket that was slung over her shoulder. "But I can't help but worry that I'm not who you think I am. What if we get all the way to Hogwarts, only to discover that I'm just some… nobody?"

Ron just continued to look at her, only just realizing how pretty she was.

"What if I really don't have a family?" she asked, more to herself than to him. "Harry, at least, has a name to go by. I don't even have that much… I don't even know if Hermy _is_ my real name. I hope it's not… I hate it."

She sighed unhappily as she turned to him and said, "Look, whether we like it or not, the four of us are all we have now right? We're stuck with each other… so no matter what happens… if I'm Hermione or not… will we still be family?"

Ron felt like an idiot—not knowing what to say or do here. Finally, he said, "We hardly know each other."

"Yes," she answered with a nod. "But after growing up in an orphanage, you come to see those round you as a family… I guess."

No one else said anything for the rest of the long trek along the tracks and to town. But they finally made it to the town with nothing but the gold and the clothes they had on their backs.

"So where do we go?" Harry huffed, panting underneath Ginny's weight. "Is there a hospital around here? Please say yes, she's really starting to get heavy."

"Hold on," Hermy said. She turned and ran to a random person and the boys watched as she came back a few minutes later. "He said that there's a hospital up the road. We can take her there. I think he called it St. Mungo's or something like that."

*St. Mungos*

A pair of warm brown eyes finally opened and she blinked several times as she tried to wrap her mind around what happened.

"Ginny?" asked a familiar voice. She glanced up and saw three sets of eyes on her.

"Ginny, are you okay?" Harry asked her worriedly.

She had to blink a few times for her to really be able to focus on those green eyes. "Harry?" she asked bewildered before she was able to notice the other two faces leaning over her. "Ron? Hermy?"

Hermy broke into a wide smile. "Oh, thank goodness. We were so worried about you. Do you feel alright?"

"Where am I?" she asked and she sat upright, wincing in pain from her arm.

"Don't push yourself!" Hermy called out, putting her hands on Ginny's shoulders and forcing her to lay back down onto the bed. "You lost a lot of blood, you're only starting to recover from it." Ginny nodded sinking back down. She closed her eyes for a moment relishing the softness of the mattress.

"Where are we?" she asked again sleepily, her eyes focused on the small fireplace that was warming the room, and the only window right next to her bed before she realized that it was already night.

"We finally made it to a town," Ron explained. He was sitting on a chair next to her bed, his face pale. "We had to carry you here, and you really are heavy, you know that right?"

"Oh, shut up," she hissed at him, wishing that she was strong enough to box his ears in. They then heard purring, and she glanced down to see that Crookshanks was sleeping on a corner of her bed. She smiled a little as she felt her eyes slowly begin to close again.

"Don't worry," Hermy whispered. "We'll all be right here when you wake up."

She smiled at them all as her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep. It had been a hard day for all of them—and soon, both Ron and Hermy nodded off as well. Harry stayed awake for a few minutes longer. The sight of Ginny pale and motionless on the snow dyed red with his own blood still haunted his thoughts.

He looked at the girl sleeping peacefully. His eyes travelled over the soft curves of her face and up to her red hair, which was spread underneath her like a fan. Harry shook his head to rid the image of her hurt in his thoughts. They were all safe now, that's all that matter. He smiled and leaned back in his chair and started to doze off; his heart still beating a little faster.

*Later*

Ron woke up after a few hours of sleep. The sky outside the window was still dark as he wandered over to the fireplace and began stroking the flames, desperate for a little more heat. That was when he heard a soft whimpering noise.

He turned to see that Hermy was cringing in her sleep, her eyes were shut tightly as if she was having a bad dream. Baffled, he stood up and wandered over to her.

"Grandma…" he heard Hermy whispered softly in her seat. "Wait… please…"

Biting his lip he put his hand on her shoulder and she jerked awake almost at once. She sat bolt-upright in her chair and stared around at him, breathing hard and he was startled to see that there were slight tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered as she stared at him. "It's just that—you were having a nightmare and…?"

"Oh," she said, looking ahead, breathing hard. "A dream… it was… just a dream."

Sweat beginning to drip down from her forehead, she leaned over to rest her head and arms on Ginny's bed and let out a long sigh of relief. "Sorry if I woke you up," she muttered.

"Ah, no. It's ok… I was already awake and…" he trailed off, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Well," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Thanks for waking me anyway."

Why was he turning red? Why was he having so hard a time talking to her? Just what the hell was the matter with him? But before he could figure out any of those questions, Ginny let out a loud groan and Harry was waking up.

He moved away and went to go find a Healer to have a look at his sister's arm, but he couldn't seem to get Hermy's brown eyes out of his mind.

*Morning*

Much later, Ginny's arm was wrapped up and she was strong enough to travel.

"You sure that you don't want to wait a little longer?" Hermy asked worriedly as she petted Crookshanks and tried to bribe him with a piece of salmon to get back into his basket. "You were pretty beat up…"

"I'm fine," she said crossly. "We've got to leave _now_. Or who knows how long we'll have to wait for the next boat. If we go now, we should be able to catch it. Besides, I can rest on the boat on the way right?"

In the end, they all agreed that it was for the best. Gathering together what they had left, they made their way to the docks and got their tickets. Hermy had surprised everyone by buying new clothes for everyone.

"Not that I don't like it," Ron said as Hermione changed into a lilac-colored robe. "But we would've been fine in our old clothes."

"Yes, but we need more than one pair of clothes," she said, as Ginny came back into the room, wearing a bright green robe that went beautifully with her red hair. She then looked to Harry and said, "You look very handsome yourself, Harry."

He blinked and turned a little red as he looked at his navy blue robes. "Ah, thanks," he said awkwardly as Ron glared at the maroon colored robe. "You know I hate maroon," he said to Ginny coldly, who smiled back innocently.

"I guess I forgot to tell Hermy that," she said sweetly.

"Yeah," Ron replied sarcastically. "And I'm gonna be king someday!"

They climbed aboard the ship and soon afterwards it set sail. They sat on the main deck which was surprisingly empty. They watched as they left the shore behind them as they stared around at the clear-blue sky and sparkling ocean that stretched for miles in all directions. They spent the next hour or so just gazing at the water, enjoying the salty air that blew through their hair or the occasional dolphin jumping out from far off.

"Well, I have something we can do to pass the time," Ginny said and they all looked to her.

"What?" Harry asked as he leaned dangerously over the railing to get a better look at a dolphin that had come bravely close to the ship.

"We will be having dancing lessons!" she called out as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. At her loud voice, it almost ended up causing Harry to tumble into the ocean.

"Why?" Hermy asked frowning as Harry regained his footing and shot an annoyed look at Ginny.

"All royals know how to dance," she said. "But we have to convince her that you are Hermione after all and…"

"Wait, what are you talking about? RON?!" Hermy called angrily to Ron. She glared at the brother and sister and snapped at them, "Ok deals off."

"What? WHY?" Ron demanded, his eyes wide.

"Neither one of you mentioned that I had to PROVE I was Hermione. Show up, look nice, fine, but LIE?" Hermy demanded.

"So all of a sudden you know who you are?" Ginny shot back. "What if it's not a lie, what if it's _true_?"

"And what if it's not?" Hermy demanded. "I hate lying! Look at me Ron I am not exactly the ideal person to be a princess!" And before she could say another word, she stormed off to where Harry was looking over the edge.

"Great," Ginny sighed. "I wish I didn't say anything… I thought that it would be obvious that she at least learn to dance…"

At the edge Hermy told Harry what was going on. He didn't look surprise. "Yeah, I had a feeling that something like this would happen. I don't know Hermy, is this really what you want?"

"I don't know," Hermy sighed. "I mean… they made a lot of good points back at the palace. What if I really am this Hermione? Could I end up losing everything for good because I'm too stubborn?"

"You just don't like the idea of lying," Harry answered. "Even back at the orphanage, you hated lying… well, except when it came to Marge."

Hermy smirked at the memories as Harry ran a tired hand through his hair. "I don't know what to tell you. But if this duchess really _is_ your grandmother, then she should be able to recognize you no matter what."

"Yeah," Hermy whispered. "I guess…"

Harry nudged her side with his elbow. "Besides, it's too late to go back now right?"

She nodded. "Fine," she said. "But I'm only doing this because we don't have anything else to do."

"Ok," she said with her hands on her hips and walked over to Ron and Ginny. "I'll learn to dance and all that. But I'm not going to lie if I can help it you got it?"

"Great," Ginny said, looking surprised at her change of heart, before she smiled. "Now, since we have the deck to ourselves, why don't we learn some dancing?"

She suddenly charged forward and grabbed Harry's hand. "Whoa now!" he called to her. "I'm not a prince now am I?"

"No," she laughed. "But it's only fair if we all learn together."

Hermy laughed as Ginny brought him to face her and grabbed his hands. She watched as Ginny took one hand and put the other on the small of her back, she in turn put her free hand on his shoulder and began to lead them around the deck.

"Positions. And 1… 2… 3… 1… 2… 3…" she began to chant, as Harry stared down at their feet, moving almost like his legs didn't bend properly. Hermy laughed as he almost caused them both to trip. "No, no, no. That's all wrong," Ginny said firmly, moving back to the center and starting again. "Like this."

She pulled away and dragged him with her, and they really did end up falling that time. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said and pulled her back to her feet as he moved away, but she reached forward and grabbed his hands. "Oh, no you don't!" she called loudly. "You are going to learn this until you can do this as well as any other royal out there!"

Hermy could tell by her tone, that she meant business. Harry obviously noticed this as well; for he got back into position without another word. Ron went over to stand next to Hermy as they watch, and laughed at the awkward couple before she turned and barked for them to start as well.

So, Hermy and Ron got into the same position and they clumsily began to try a waltz… to be honest, they were just as graceful as Harry and Ginny were. They kept this up for a short time, Hermy only just starting to get the hang of dancing. As they twirled, Hermy glanced over at Harry and Ginny in surprise.

They were only just beginning, but now the two of them were dancing in almost perfect sync with each other. Ginny was no longer steering as Harry spun her around like a ballerina and smiled widely at her as she turned back to him.

It was seeing the peaceful looks on both of their faces did she realize what this was about. Ginny was slowly falling for Harry, and judging from Harry's happy face, the feelings were quickly being returned.

"What is it?" Ron asked as they spun around.

"Hmm?" Hermy asked, forgetting where she was for a second. "Nothing…" she said, trying not to look at him. She didn't know how Ron would feel if she told him about Harry and Ginny's feelings and asked, "Say, what do you think of Harry?"

"Harry?" he repeated in confusion. "Why?"

'_Because he might be your in-law someday if this keeps up,'_ she thought, but thought it best not to say that. "Just asking. Ginny and Harry sure seem to becoming good friends and I was wondering if you liked it?"

Ron frowned and looked up at the couple. "He's ok I guess," he answered. "I like being round him, but I just don't like the idea of him and my sister getting close."

"You realize that he's _my_ brother," she told him crossly. "Or… foster brother, I guess. But you know what I mean."

"Yeah," he said quickly. "You two must be close."

"He was always such a good friend to me," she said softly. For a few more minutes they stay quiet as they danced around. "I've been meaning to thank you," she said.

"For what?" he asked.

"Well, first off, for helping getting us all off the train," she reminded him. "And second for last night."

"Oh, waking you up? Ah… no problem. But what were you dreaming of?" Ron asked suddenly.

"It was a memory," she answered sadly. "Or, at least, I think it was a memory. I'm not so sure…"

"Of what?" he had to ask.

Hermy didn't answer the question. Rather she stopped and let go of him as she said, "You know? I'm starting to get a little dizzy with all this spinning around, maybe we should stop?"

"Yeah," Ron said, almost too eager and let go at once. He had just realized just how close they seemed to be getting.

Ginny and Harry had also stopped; Ginny was still in no shape to be moving around too much and they all decided to call it a night. That night everyone was getting ready for bed in some quarters below deck; and the four of them stayed up talking. Ginny, who had been looking through a bag looking for the papers, ended up dumping out the contents so that she could find the right ones?

"I'm surprised that you were able to save that from the train," Harry asked as he got up from the couch and stretched, ready to head to the second room with Ron. "Yeah," Ginny muttered as she found the right paper and quickly wrote something down on it. "I had it under my clothes… I was afraid that someone would try to steal it."

But Hermy wasn't listening in on the talk. Because the moment that Ginny had poured out the contents of the bag, she spotted something that fell out with everything else. It was a small book, just big enough to hold in the palm of her hand, decorated with wands, owls, and stars. In the center of the book, was a large circle, which held a golden lion with a red mane. She watched, as if in slow motion, as the little book slipped out and landed with a soft clunk on the floor in front of her.

Slowly, she reached down and picked it up as she stared at it. "Pretty," she whispered as she stared at it. "It really is a beautiful music box."

Ron, who was heading to the door with Harry, stopped and stared at her. "How did you know that was a music box?" he asked her softly.

Hermy blinked, as if she only just realized what she said and quickly put it back down. "I don't know… but what else could it be?" she asked him.

"I suppose we should get some sleep," Harry said now pulling Ron with him. "We'll see you ladies in the morning!"

But even as they all went to the small beds after that, Ron couldn't help but think about what Hermy said about the music box. How could she have guess that? After a while, he groaned and rolled over so that he could punch his pillow in frustration. Why is everything always so difficult?

*Dolores*

"Aw, look master," Peter said, pointing to the Foe-Glass excitedly. "There she is, all snug in her little bed! This is the perfect chance for you to try and kill her!"

"Perfect," Dolores smirked as she watched as the bushy-haired girl turned over in her sleep. "I'll get inside her mind, where she can't escape me!"


	7. False Dreams

**Chapter 6: False Dreams**

Dolores waited until it was very late and she was sure that those brats were all asleep by the time that she cast a curse.

"Now, I shall have to do it myself!" she said with another girlish giggle before closing her eyes and searching for the little girl's mind. She found it quickly and began to plant images into the fears into her mind… to let her see heaven… before she visited hell.

***Hermy***

Hermy had been having a little trouble sleeping again. Terrible nightmares had plague her mind since she was a little girl. However she hardly ever remembered them… and those few times that she did, they made no sense to her at all. She remembered running along on ice or after a speeding train… after that she would awaken, and lay there for hours until the sun rose.

But due to everything that had happened in the last few days, she was exhausted. And for the last hour, she had been tossing and turning, trying to empty her head and sleep. But after hearing Crookshanks purring beside her and Ginny's soft breathing from the bed across from her, she slowly began to drift off.

***Dream***

_Hermy was walking through the old palace, as it had been before the revolt. With golden ceilings, and silver floors, wide windows that let in so much sunshine that you could swear that you were outside. It was bright and hot, like the warmest spring day as she wandered through the halls. She passed the countless paintings that covered the walls and listened to her feet hardly making noise against the stone beneath her—she couldn't remember feeling this happy for a long time._

_Suddenly, she heard soft giggling from behind her. She stopped then and turned around to see that a small group of people there._

_A handsome man with warm brown eyes was looking at her with a bright smile—next to him was a pretty woman who had long, bushy hair just like her, both of them laughing happily—while in front of them were three girls…_

_For some reason she knew who they were._

_The eldest-looking girl was Penelope, then the two twins were Padma and Parvati… with their parents were there with them._

_Hermy could only beam at them as she waved. The girls all giggled and waved back, gesturing for her to follow them. The parents were looking at her proudly and also wanted her to follow as they slipped through the door next to them._

_Unable to help herself, her heart telling her to follow, she ran towards them and through the doors. She was back in that beautiful ballroom from the palace… only this time, it was bright and full of sparkling colors and music. The family had already made it across the room and were waving at her to quickly follow._

_"Come join us, Hermione!" they called and she smiled shaking her head, as she ran after them._

*Reality*

Ginny was fast asleep, dreaming of a pair of bright, green eyes and a handsome smile when she was rudely awoken. A pair of sharp claws dug themselves into her arm and she woke with a cry.

She sat bolt-upright to see a ginger cat perched on her bed. She picked him up and said coldly, trying to keep her temper down, "What the hell was that for?!" she demanded.

The cat only meowed loudly and squirmed out of her hands before he went across from her and jumped up onto Hermy's bed. But as Ginny calmed down and looked, she saw that the bed was empty.

"Hermy?" she called, suddenly feeling anxious—wondering where she had gone. Maybe she had just gone to the bathroom or…

But Crookshanks had just jumped off the bed and went running over to the door that was open. Ginny looked at it in bewilderment. She was sure that door had been closed. Suddenly feeling a strong since that something was wrong, she pushed the covers off her as she stuck her head out into the hallway.

"Hermy?" she called worriedly. The ship was moving in a much more rough and violent matter than it had been earlier. Having to hold onto the doorway to keep herself from falling, she suddenly spotted her friend, stumbling up the stairs that led to the deck. She ran forward, trying to reach her, but just as she reached the stairs, a great CRASH of thunder echoed around her and a river of seawater came washing down the stairs and she ended up falling as it carried her back to the door. Coughing and sputtering, she looked up to see that Hermy continued to climb—somehow escaped the wave and was almost out of sight.

"HERMY!" she cried. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

When Hermy didn't answer, Ginny suddenly felt close to panicking as she pulled herself up, her nightdress dripping wet, and ran the opposite way to the boy's room.

***Dream***

_Hermy had followed the small family across the ballroom and through several more rooms—wondering where they were going. _

"_Where are we going?" she decided to ask, but they only smiled back at her._

"_Want to come to the library?" Penelope called. "You should! It's got all the books you could ever want!"_

_Hermy smiled wider—she loved books. She kept going, now climbing up another flight of stairs to keep up with them._

***Reality***

The boys were both fast asleep when they heard the fist at the door. They groaned at the noise—not wanting to wake up.

"What is it?" Ron called still half asleep.

"Harry, Ron, it's me!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginny?" Harry called, opening his eyes and looking at the door with blurry eyes. He reached over to his bedside table and put on his glasses as he called, "It's late, Ginny. Can't this wait till morning?"

"No!" she called, sounding scared. "Please open up! It's Hermy! Something's wrong! I think she might be in trouble!"

At those words, they both looked at each other—half convinced that this was a dream. But they pushed themselves out of bed and open the heavy door.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as they opened it and saw Ginny standing there… dripping wet.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ron demanded, starting at his soaked sister. "You look like you fell in a lake!"

"That doesn't matter!" Ginny said, and they were alarmed to see her fearful expression. "It's Hermy! I think she's sleepwalking or something, she just went up on deck and it sounds like there's a bag storm up there!"

"Sleepwalking?" Harry repeated in bafflement. "She's never slept walk before."

"Well, she is now," she said, and suddenly, water was rushing down the steps and flooding the hall—soaking their feet.

"Ok, let's just go and see how she's doing," Ron said, for some reason, he was feeling scared and he was desperate to see what was going on for himself. Scrambling through the water, they ran from the cabin and headed straight for the cold, steel steps that would take them up to the deck. It was like a war zone up there. The sky was as black as tar, and the rain that fell down was nothing compared to the salt water that was washed up. Soon they were drenched to their skins and their ship suddenly felt like a toy boat as it was being tossed around by the waves.

"Hermy?" shouted Ron, staring around for the girl. They tried to move across the wooden boards, when all of a sudden, another large wave came up and crashed onto them. The force of the water was so great that they were flung down and swept across the deck, trying to find some way to stop themselves from going over the side.

As he scrambled back up to his feet, he saw her… she was almost directly opposite him—but what scared him was that she was standing near the edge of the ship, holding onto one of the ropes and stepping up onto the railing. If she took just one more step…

But before he could react, he heard his sister's voice screaming. Spinning around, he saw that she had almost been washed overboard as well, but Harry was there, holding onto her hand and pulling her back so that they were holding onto some ropes.

He then looked out and bellowed at him, "IT'S ALRIGHT! I GOT HER! YOU GET HERMY!"

Trusting him to take care of Ginny, he nodded, and he stumbled across the soaked deck, trying hard not to fall over. Hermy was now standing on the railing, swaying slightly, as if wondering if she should jump down or not.

If he didn't hurry, then she was going to be washed away. What the hell was wrong with her?

"HERMY? HERMY!" he screamed, and as he grabbed hold of the railing to keep himself from falling, he saw her sway back a little… he saw that her eyes were closed and there was a little smile on her pretty face.

He stared at her and realized that Ginny had been right. She was sleepwalking.

***Dream***

_Hermy was smiling as she followed her family through the beautiful palace and suddenly they were standing in the middle of an enormous library. The absolute biggest library that she had ever seen. She had to almost look straight up to see the top shelves that were filled with more books than she could possibly read in a lifetime. It was actually so big that when you whisper you could hear a faint echo bounce off the walls._

_She was so excited, that she ended up climbing up onto one of the ladders just so that she could get a better look at all of them._

"_Hermione?" called a familiar voice, and the family were below her, offering their hands… they wanted her to jump down to them. _

_She smiled, crouching down on the top step, ready to jump into their waiting arms…_

_But as she was about to step off, she felt as if something had grabbed her from behind. She looked behind her but she couldn't see anything—even though she could feel the hands around her, pulling her backwards away from them all._

_No… she didn't want to leave yet. They were waiting for her! She looked back down at them, about to cry out for them to help her… but as she looked, the family of five were gone… to be replaced with five dark shadows. They were dressed in long black cloaks and the faces were wearing horrible skeleton masks._

_They reached up for her and she screamed—thrashing around—trying to climb the shelves. But as soon as her hands reached towards the books, they burst into flames and were smoldering before her eyes. She screamed even louder, crying at what was happening. She swayed from the ladder and felt herself about to fall towards the masked figures, but the thing that was holding onto her wouldn't let go._

_She screamed at the top of her lungs. She needed to get away. _

*Reality*

"Hermy! HERMY!" Ron screamed at her. He had finally reached her just as she was about to jump. He jumped up and grabbed her around the waist and began pulling her back. But as soon as he touched her, she began to scream bloody murder.

With a great effort, he pulled her back onto the deck and hit her hard in the face, trying desperately to wake her up. With that last hard SMACK! She woke with a start.

Hermy's brown eyes opened and she was staring around her, not understanding what was happening… only realizing that she was safe. She was away from that room with those masked people and the burning books. She was safe in Ron's arms…

"Hermy are you okay?" Ron asked, his arms wrapped around her; he was breathing hard as he looked at her. He was scared… Hermy looked up to see him and suddenly, she began crying though it was hard to tell that she was through the rain. She threw herself at Ron crying on his shoulder.

"It was horrible," Hermy whispered to him. Ron tightened his arms around Hermy, holding her tightly as the tears fell. They were so focused on each other, they didn't notice that the seas had calmed around them, that the rain stopped falling, and the ship was no longer being tossed around.

"It's okay now. You're safe," Ron whispered back, holding her, his heart calming down from that scare. "You had me worried sick there for a second."

Hermy shook her head feeling tears come into his eyes. "I saw people," she whispered to him. "It was such a beautiful dream at first. I knew them, but at the same time, I didn't. I wanted to go with them. but then they were replaced with this ugly nightmare. Men in masks… they were trying to grab me and pull me into the fire…"

"You're okay now. You don't have to worry." Ron whispered just as they heard more footsteps. He looked up in time to see that Harry and Ginny were running towards them.

"Hermy?!" Harry cried when he saw her, his face white and scare. "What happened?"

***Meanwhile***

"FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN!" Dolores cried and began throwing things against walls. "I want one simple thing done, and I just can't seem to get it! I want that girl dead!"

"Miss, calm down!" Peter cried from his spot on the ground, as he scrambled around to pick up the pieces of the broken kitten plates.

She glared at him. "I want that girl dead… I don't care how many times I have to try… but I will kill her."

***Back on the boat***

"What happened?" Harry demanded as Ginny wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders. They were all back in their cabins and had changed out of their wet clothes.

"Hermy had a bad dream," Ron said as Hermione drank a cup of cocoa.

"So you decided to go out in the middle of a storm for a stroll?" Ginny asked her incredulously, finding a towel and was now drying her hair.

"She was sleepwalking," Ron explained.

"Sleepwalking?" Harry repeated in amazement as he finished passing cocoa out for them. "That's a first time I've heard of it." He crouched in front of Hermy who was staring into space. "You never did anything like that before."

She shook her head. "I don't know… I don't know what happened. I was having trouble sleeping… but when I finally dozed off, I had the most beautiful dream. But then it changed into something horrible. The next thing I know, I'm on deck."

"Hermy?" he asked in worry.

"I want to go to sleep," Hermy mumbled her head dropping forward. She looked exhausted.

Harry nodded. "Alright," he said softly. "But from now on, I think that we should sleep in shifts. Just to keep something like this from happening again."

"I agree," Ginny whispered, looking calmer as Crookshanks jumped up onto Hermy's lap.

"Now that's settled," Harry said, getting up to lock the door. "We'll sleep here together. And then when we board tomorrow, we'll discuss about what to do next. Now, who wants first shift?"

Surprisingly, it was Ron who volunteered first. They let the girls have the two beds, and Harry was asleep on the couch; after telling Ron to wake him up if he got tired. Ron just sat up for the rest of the night and watched them all. His eyes fell onto Hermy's dreaming face, trying not to think about how scared he was when he saw her up on that railing… or how relieved he was when she woke up.

He leaned his back against the wall and watched over her all night… just glad that she was safe now.

***Next Morning***

By the time that morning came, the sky was a bright blue and there wasn't a single cloud for miles. It was as if last night had just been a bad dream.

"Are you sure that you're ok?" Harry asked Hermy once they woke up and were leaning against the railing, enjoying the sunshine and the light salty spray of the waves.

"Better than last night," she confessed. "How's Ron?"

"He was up all night, believe it or not," Harry answered. "We still have a little while before we reach land. We're letting him sleep for now."

"I just don't get it," she murmured.

"What?" Harry asked.

"One minute I'm a step away from killing myself and then the next I'm here…" she said frustrated. "I just don't get what's happening to me."

"Wait a moment, back up. Did you just say that you were trying to kill yourself?" Harry asked his eyes widening in worry.

Hermy just realized what she said and leaned forward hug Harry. "No! I don't want to die yet! I told you that I didn't even know that I was up here until I was slapped awake." She then pulled back to tell him, "I just don't know what's happening to me. I just wish I could… just remember who I am."

Harry stood there and listened to her as she told him her dream.

"In my dream I saw my family," she whispered. "At least I think they might have been. I knew who they were, but maybe I just dreamt them up. They looked just like the people in that painting back at the palace. Maybe it's only because I've been thinking about them a lot. I don't know why I am even doing this. Going to Hogwarts on a guess? Me? A princess? Yeah right."

"But what if it's true?" Harry asked her. "I don't know what else to say to that. But we'll find out soon enough. Once we get to Hogwarts, we'll find out once and for all if you're Hermione or not."

They drew apart and she was smiling a little at him. "Well, at least you're easier to talk to than Ron."

They looked to the horizon and they could see it. The thin strip of land…

"Look," she whispered as Ginny came up onto deck and was now looking around for them. "That's where Godric's Hallow is. We'll be there soon. We'll see if we can find your family."

He smiled and took her pinky again. "We're in this together right?"

She smiled, feeling better. "Yeah…"

**(Sorry for the wait, but now the moment has come. Can Harry find his own family? Or will he find out the horrible possibility that he's alone in the world?)**


	8. Returning Home

**Chapter 7: Returning Home**

The sun was shining bright as they neared land while a gentle, cool sea breeze floated softly over the deck. The four of them stood on deck, enjoying the wind as the opposite shore came closer and closer. Harry was standing there, staring out at the town that was becoming larger with each passing second, the little ant-like creatures slowly becoming people and the dollhouse size houses quickly grew to full height.

But as the ship was slowly pulling into the docks, and the sounds of people running around to get their jobs done, Harry felt something different than excitement. Fear…

He was back… after about ten years, he was finally home. He was breathing hard and his heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest as he stared ahead of him at the road that led to his hometown. It had been so long, this place was like a dream to him… where they really here? Could his parents still be here in town after all this time? Would they even recognize him after all these years? Would he?

He gulped as he looked down to the railing; his hands were curled into fists and he was shaking. Apparently he wasn't the only one who noticed for Ginny put her own comforting hand on top of his and said, "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

Harry gulped again and forced a smile as he allowed her to lead him off the ship and through the docks. He reached behind him and took Hermy's hand to make sure that they didn't get separated and they soon found themselves on the road, overlooking the town.

"Wow," Ginny said, looking around. "This is a pretty big town."

"So this is where you're born?" Ron asked, shielding his eyes as he looked around. "Not bad…"

"It's been so long, I'd all but forgotten what it looked like," Harry said walking forward, feeling a little light-headed as he tried to force his memory to remember what it was like the last time that he came here.

"It's been ten years since you were last here," Hermy said. "How does it feel to be back here?"

"Surreal," Harry admitted. "After dreaming about coming back here for years, it's like a dream… OW!" he glared at Ginny, who was smiling innocently at him after she gave his arm a hard pinch.

"Just letting you know that this is real," she answered him happily as he rubbed the sore spot.

"So, where do we go from here?" Ron asked. "Where's your house?"

"I don't remember," Harry admitted softly. "I do vaguely recall that it was a small cottage… but I can't think of where exactly it was…"

"It's ok," Hermy said comfortingly, coming forward. "I'm sure that we can manage on our own for now. We just need to ask where the Potters live and hope it works out."

But as they walked the winding streets, avoiding the people that were rushing here and there from work, doing their shopping, or late for an appointment, they had no idea to where they were going or what to do.

Once in awhile, one of them would go up to some random people and ask them about the Potters. But no one seemed to have any idea to what they were talking about.

"This can't be a good sign," Ron said softly. "No one seems to know anything about your family."

"Why would that be?" Ginny asked.

"Are we sure that this is Godric's Hallow?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Harry said at once. "I don't know what's going on, but we have to keep looking."

"It could just be that they live further in town," Hermy suggested. "I'm pretty sure that if we keep walking, then we'll find some answers."

Because none of them could think of an answer to that, they continued to walk. After a few hours, the hard streets turned to dirt roads and the buildings became cottages or farms… surrounded by miles of land.

Ginny glanced up at the sky to see that it was starting to grow dark. "It looks like it might rain," she told them as they hurried along. "If we don't find some place to say, we're gonna get soaked."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth did Harry felt a drop of rain hit his nose.

"In there!" Hermy called and they looked up to see a large church down the road. "We can rest there until the rain stops."

They ran the rest of the way to the church, just making it in time before the rain began to fall.

"I remember this place," Harry muttered as they pushed open the doors and stand inside the warm building. "I remember walking passed here with Mom and Dad…"

"Maybe the people here can help us, then," Ginny offered helpfully as they ventured further inside. The church was completely silent and, seemingly, empty. Their footsteps echoed down the main aisle as they got closer to the altar, which was in front of a beautiful stain-glass window.

"There would be archives here," Hermy offered, half-heartedly. "We might be able to get a clue here…"

"Can I help you?"

All four of them spun around, feeling foolish immediately at how spooked they'd been. But, it was only a man who had stepped out from the many pews and coming towards them. Judging from the way he was dressed, they assumed that he was the minister…

"Yes," Hermy said, composing herself as she stood up straight and said, "We just wanted to stay here until the rain stopped."

"Well," the minister said calmly, "By all means, you are welcomed here."

Harry looked him up and down. He had never seen a man like him before… he was a tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and bread, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice and he had a very kind smile as he looked at them all in turn.

"And also…?" Hermy said slowly as if afraid to ask for anything more.

"Yes?" he asked politely. "And we were hoping if we could look through the archives?"

The minister blinked in surprise as he said, "I am sorry… but there are rules for looking through our archives. Are you looking for members of your own family?"

"No, sir," she said honestly before she looked to Harry and finished, "But he is."

"I see," the minister said slowly, looking to Harry. "And your surname?" he asked.

"Potter," Harry said.

The minister's eyes widened. "Potter?" he repeated in surprise. "You know, there was a small family of Potters here some years ago."

"Really?" Harry asked, his heart soaring. "And do you know where they are now?"

"They went off on a trip and never came back," he sighed.

Harry felt his heart sink. "Never came back?" he repeated.

"I'm afraid so," the minister admitted with a sigh. "A young couple and their son… they were going on a small vacation for a short itme… but there was some trouble in Hogsmeade during that time. No one knows for sure what happened to them… but they never returned."

Harry gulped. "But… surely they have to have family around here?"

"They're house has been empty for years," he sighed. "And no one's come visiting before now… no one knows for sure if they're alive or not… all I know is that they're not here anymore."

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermy said softly as they left the church later on that day. The storm had quickly passed and the sun was poking its head out from passed the clouds. But Harry hardly noticed any of it as he walked behind the others. Now that he knew the truth, now that he knew that his parents had never come back here… he couldn't help but wonder which was more tragic.

The fact that he still didn't know what happed to his parents, or the fact that he had come all the way here only to discover that he didn't know what happened.

"I just thought…" Harry whispered. "I'd at least be able to learn what happened to them…?"

Hermy stopped walking so that she could hug him. "I know it's hard…?" she began but Harry shook his head.

"We shouldn't have come here," he said stubbornly. "It was just a waste of time and…"

"Harry," Ginny said quietly. "It's ok. At least now you know…"

"Know what?" Harry asked her. "Know that I still don't have a family? That I don't know what happened to them?"

"But it wouldn't hurt just to go to look at the house now would it?" Ron asked. "Just to make sure?"

Harry didn't know what that would change… but he knew that he had to face it. They walked along the road to the address that the minister gave them. It didn't take them long to find the house… and when he saw it, Harry felt as if his heart was breaking apart. Honestly, what was he expecting?

It looked like it had once been a nice home to live in, but the house was run-down, the garden was overgrown, and the silent black windows made the house look like an empty soul. He could remember now…

"Perhaps it's the wrong house?" Ginny offered but Harry shook his head.

"No," he told her, pointing to an overgrown garden of weeds and Lilies… I remember that garden. My mother loved to grow Lilies and Petunias there. This is it…" he looked back up to the house and felt tears burn at the corner of his eyes. "This is—was my home."

Ginny felt tears now burning at her eyes as she closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly, as if hoping to take some of the pain away from him. She brushed his rough, black hair back off his forehead. He looked so young for that brief moment. As strong as he was, it was easy for her to forget that he was hardly older than she was. When Ron and Hermy looked up at the house, she took this moment to lean forward and plant a small kiss on the cheek.

"You said that you had a godfather here too right?" Ron asked, looking back at him, not realizing that his sister had just kissed him.

"I don't know where to start looking for him," Harry admitted.

"We could always go back and ask about him?" Hermy suggested.

But Harry wasn't so sure that he could take anymore disappointment. Instead, he told them that he'll think about as they head back. He looked up at the house one last time, wondering if he would ever have a family again before he slowly turned and followed his friends back down the path that they came.

***Umbridge***

Umbridge was growing more impatient by the second as she watched the four brats in the Foe-Glass. "So they're in Godric's Hallow?" Umbridge asked.

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Peter stuttered as he watched her. "Apparently, they were looking for that black-haired boy's family."

"I see," she muttered, watching the downtrodden expressions on their faces. "Then I take it that the boy no longer has a family?" she smirked as she raised her toad-like fingers and said, "Well, then I guess no one would miss him should something… unfortunate happen?"

***Meanwhile***

The sky was filled with color; orange faded to purple as the sun receded across the glassy, blue-green of the land. Soon though, the sun had all but fallen on the horizon and the bright orange of the sunset had given way to the deep purples and blues of night.

"It's getting late," Hermy said needlessly. "Maybe we can stay at the church tonight, and then figure out what to do tomorrow?"

Harry didn't answer as he walked behind them, Ginny by his side and smiling sadly as she took his hand. He couldn't explain the strange sense of comfort he felt as he laced his fingers around her own and gave her a shaky smile.

Hermy looked back and smiled, almost amazed at how well they seemed to understand each other… how they just look… right together.

She looked ahead, and talked to Ron, "So… we'll be leaving in a couple days?"

"The next ship to Hogwarts won't leave for another two or three days," he answered. "So, we're going to be stuck here. We'll have to figure out where we're going to stay until then. Because I'm not sure that we can stay with that old minister until then."

"I'm sure that if we explain, he might understand?" Hermy offered.

"Yeah," Ron said, with a quick glance at Harry. "But now? After all this?"

Hermy sighed as she looked back to see Harry's gloomy face. "Yeah," she said softly. "I guess you're right."

They climbed up a hill, and in the far distance, they could just make out the lights of the city in front of them.

"It'll take hours to get back," Hermy sighed as they waited for Harry and Ginny to catch up.

"Yeah, and I'm not in the mood to sleep on the ground," Ron said.

Hermy sighed, trying to think of what to do as she unconsciously played with the little hourglass around her neck. But as she played with it, she didn't notice how it came undone—almost as if by magic—and slipped through her fingers.

Gasping, she watched it fall to the ground and rolled down the hill.

"NO!" she cried, chasing after it.

"HERMY!" Ron called as she charged down the hill, and making a wild catch for it. She managed to close her fingers around it just before it hit a pile of rocks at the foot of the hill. Breathing hard, she sighed in relief as she looked at it. Not a scratch…

She had just safely tucked it away into her pocket when she could hear her friends shouting to run. She looked up, about to ask them what they were screaming about when she saw it. Slithering towards her, silent as a shadow, was a snake.

The biggest snake she had ever seen in her life… a large, green snake, roughly twelve feet long and as thick as a man's thigh. Feeling as though her entire body was paralyzed, Hermy couldn't seem to move. She stood there, horrified, transfixed at it as it slowly came closer and closer towards her.

It drew itself up to its full fight and struck at her…

Someone came barreling towards here, knocking her clean off her feet. "Don't just stand there like an idiot!" Ron's voice shouted as they rolled over the rocks and landed painfully a few yards away.

Harry and Ginny were also running down the hill towards them as the snake slithered around, ready to attack again.

"Move it!" Harry shouted, grabbing Hermy's hands and pulling her up as Ron scrambled to his feet. They ran for it, back up the hill, hearing the heavy body slither behind them, hear the sound of it hissing furiously at them.

This felt like some kind of nightmare, there was nothing else it could be…

The snake then launched itself forward, missing Hermy by a hair and instead hit Harry. Harry fell to the ground, feeling as if he was hit with a bag of water… a really heavy bag of water.

Gasping for breath, he spun around as the snake coiled itself around him.

"HARRY!" Hermy and Ginny screamed as he tried to fight it off. But it was no good; he was completely bound by the snake. It reared its ugly head up above him and opened its mouth wide, revealing its fangs as it struck… but it never had a chance to finish.

At that moment, someone came charging out of nowhere and struck the snake with a knife in his hands.

Hissing in pain, its deathlike grip slackened enough for Harry to pull himself free. Just then, he heard the sounds of what sounded like sickening _WHACK_ and something heavy falling to the ground. Feeling as if his ribs were broken, Harry turned to see that a thin man with long, black hair was standing there with the beheaded snake.

He looked down and asked anxiously, "Are you alright?"

***Umbridge***

Umbridge was rampaging throughout her office. Once again she was throwing the plates around, spilling out the tacky pink flowers and ripping up the lace that hung from the wall in her rage.

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "HOW HARD IS IT TO KILL JUST ONE GIRL?!"

"Ma'am…" Peter stammered as he hid behind the desk, afraid that he would be next to break if she saw him. "Ma'am… I'm s-sure that y-y-you'll get her n-next time."

"I was this close!" she screamed out. "That does it! I'm sick of this! I will deal with her in person myself!"

***Meanwhile***

The long-haired man who had saved them, brought them all to his house just as the sun went down. There was a roaring fire going in the fireplace as the man made tea for them all.

"That was a close one," he said as they looked around the dark, gloomy kitchen. "Any later, and you kids wouldn't be alive right now."

"What was that thing?" Ron asked him.

"A snake," the man answered obviously

Ron rolled his eyes. "I figured that much out on my own," he snapped. "I mean, where did it come from?"

"That is a good question," the man said, thoughtfully. "Never saw anything larger than a garden snake around this place. But one like that?!"

Harry glanced up at the fireplace mantle where a bunch of pictures sat in their frames as they continued to talk to the man.

"So I'm guessing that those things aren't common around here?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

"First time I've seen them," he answered as Harry got up from his chair. He walked over to the fire so that he could get a better look at the picture. There was something strange about them.

"Anyway," the man said. "You're all lucky to make it out alive and in one piece. What did you all do to make that thing so angry with you?"

"Nothing!" Hermy said. "It just attacked!"

"Well, some snakes are known for being territorial," the man went on. "It could just be you strayed too close to it. But still… I have no idea where it could've come from. But you should be safe here and… what are you doing?" he had finally noticed that Harry was there, picking up one of the pictures and staring at it.

Harry just stared at the picture, his back to them all. "This… this is…?" he whispered.

"What?" the man asked, now sounding annoyed. "Look, just put that back."

But Harry didn't move as he stared, transfixed at it. Curious, Ginny got up to see what he was looking at. "Oh, wow!" she gasped. "He looks just like you!"

And it was true. There were a group of young boys… one of them looked almost identical to the Harry standing right there. He was a young man with jet-black hair that stood up in the back… the same thin face… even the same figure… it was like looking at a picture of himself.

"Who is this guy?" he asked the man.

"An old friend," he answered coldly. "Not that it's any of your business kid. Now why don't you tell me who you are and why you're all…" but he stopped dead. Harry finally turned to look at him, and his voice seemed to die in his throat as he stared at Harry—the light from the fire illumining his face.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as the man stood up and slowly walked over to him, as if afraid that if he blinked he would disappear.

"Your name," he croaked out. "What is your name?"

"Harry," Harry told him, and he watched as the man's composure turned pale.

"Harry… Potter?" he asked hurriedly.

"How did you know…?" Harry asked nervously as he backed up. The man walked over to him and put his hands on his shoulders as he looked at him in the eye. "You're… real?" he asked, as if afraid that if he spoke to loudly, it would become unreal.

"Your parents?" he asked. "What are your parent's names?"

"What are you getting at?" Ron demanded. "What is with you?"

The man ignored him as he looked directly at Harry, almost pleadingly. "Your parents names…?"

"Lily and James Potter," Harry said at once and the man's eyes widened. "I came here to try and find them… but apparently…"

"Harry?" the man whispered, and there were tears in his gray eyes. "Is that _really_ you?"

Harry stared at him. And then a hazy memory from what felt like a million years ago slowly came back to him. The image of a young man who played with him while his parents watched… a man with the exact same gray eyes as this man had.

Harry gulped, feeling as if his throat had closed up and croaked out, "Sirius?"

Sirius broke down as he embraced him hard, hugging him so tightly that one would think that he never intended to let go.

**(Sorry for the long wait. But I've been having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to bring Sirius into the picture. How is it? So now harry as a choice. Go with his friends to Hogwarts, or to stay with Sirius? Hope to write again soon)**


	9. Finding Home

**Chapter 8: Finding Home**

This wasn't what he had planned out…

Harry had all given up hope of ever finding his family after he saw what was left of his parent's house. But here he was with his godfather. Night had come and his friends had given the two of them privacy in the living room—while they tried to sleep the snake attack off in one of the bedrooms.

Harry sat there, explaining to Sirius everything that he could remember. How he got separated from his parents, and then forced to live in an orphanage—just waiting for someone to come and take him. But no one ever did. And so he took a chance and decided to come back here for some answers after he'd been allowed to leave with Hermy.

"You were living in an orphanage all these years?" Sirius croaked out, his hands over his face, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You were alive… all this time…?"

"Sirius, you didn't know," Harry said at once, trying not to feel the slight bit of resentment inside him for Sirius never bothering to look. But those nasty feelings faded after seeing the devastated look in his godfather's eyes.

"All this time…?" Sirius repeated to himself, "And I never knew?"

Harry reached across the table and gripped his shoulder. "Again, you had no idea where I was. But just what happened?" he asked desperately. "Mum and dad? What happened?"

Sirius sighed as he looked up at him and explained, "Your parents decided to take a quick weekend vacation up near Hogsmeade. They invited me along, but I couldn't go. I wasn't feeling well that weekend. But we planned on having breakfast when they got back…"

"But they never did," Harry said softly.

"No," Sirius said, getting up and pacing the room. "On the night that you all were supposed to come back, was the revolt. I didn't hear about it until the next day. They never showed up at the docks. I thought at first that they just missed the boat and would catch the next one, but I waited there all day and you all never came back. It didn't feel right… and that was when I heard the news."

"And Mum and Dad?" Harry asked softly, already knowing what must've happened.

"They were killed in the attack," he sighed. "There were a small army of hooded figures attacking innocent people and they stepped in to try and stop it. From what I heard, they fought bravely but…"

"I don't remember too much about that," Harry admitted, raising his hand up to look at it, completely lost in thought to that night. "I was cold and dad gave me his cloak as we headed down the road that night. That was when all these people started yelling and screaming… there was fire burning in the distance, but I didn't understand what was going on. Mum was scared. She pulled me along after her and dad… I remember holding on to her hand."

Sirius sat there staring at him, as if unable to tear his eyes away from him as he listened to every word. "But I was getting shoved around by all those people we got separated… the crowd pulled her away from me. I never saw her again. Or dad… eventually, some men found me and threw me out to the orphanage when I told them what happened."

"They told me that they were gone," Sirius sighed, covering his face with his hands. "And that you were killed too. Why didn't I…? I should've looked… I just…"

Harry got up from the table and went around it to hug him tightly. "You know, all these years, I wondered just what it would feel like to see you again…"

"And what are you feeling now?" Sirius asked, looking up at him.

Harry felt embarrassed at the tears that were burning his eyes, but he didn't turn away as he said, "I feel like I finally found a place to belong."

Sirius had tears in his own eyes as he stood up and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry," he said sincerely, his voice choked up. "For making you wait all this time."

Harry fought the tears as he buried his face in Sirius shoulder—not sure what else to do. He didn't know how long they stood there like that before they finally pulled away.

"Now that you're here, what now?" Sirius asked him at once. "You will stay here won't you? We have all this time to make up."

The smile faded slightly from Harry face as he looked to the door where his friends were sleeping "I want to," he said softly, "More than anything. But… you see I made a promise. I have to see it through to the end."

He and Sirius looked up at each other.

Harry then sat down and explained the whole truth to Sirius about what they were doing, and why they were here.

"So you think that Hermy might be the princess?" Sirius asked slowly.

"It would explain a lot," Harry said. "Hermy doesn't remember anything about her past. She doesn't remember anything before the revolt. The only clue she has to who she is Hogwarts, and that's where her only family is supposed to be alive. I know it's a long shot, but she wants to take a chance."

He looked pleadingly up at Sirius, hoping that he understood. "I want to be here with you!" he said earnestly, "You have to believe me! But I promised that I'd help her!"

He got up to pace around the room. "It's only going to be a little longer… a few weeks at most! We're going to see the Grand Duchess Minerva at Hogwarts. We'll find out the truth one way or another. If it turns out that she's not Hermione, then we'll come back here and try to start over. But if she _is_, then that means that she found her family and her home."

He looked Sirius in the eyes. "She's like a sister to me," he said. "I love her like a sister and she's been searching for who she is as long as I have. If there's a chance… if there's any way that she could find her family like how I found you, then I want to help her!"

Sirius just looked at him.

"No matter what, I'll come back," Harry said imploringly. "Now that I know you're here… I want to know everything. But until then, I have to try and help her. Do you understand?"

Sirius merely smiled sadly as he pulled him into a tight hug.

***The Next Day***

"I can't believe this," Ginny said, sounding hurt and angry. "We're leaving him behind?"

"Ginny," Ron sighed. "Let's not go into this again.

"Do we have to leave like this?" Ginny asked upset, glaring at him, "We didn't even say goodbye! How do we know that he wanted to stay?"

"Of course he wanted to stay," Hermy said forcefully, fighting the tears. "Harry found his family. There's no more reason to stay."

That night, while Harry and Sirius talked, they decided to slip out the house just before the sun rose. They didn't want to make Harry choose between them and Sirius. So they thought that the best thing to do would be to just leave before they noticed they were gone.

They packed silently, and slipped out the window to the docks. They were so focused on making it to the ship before Harry realized that they were gone, that it wasn't until they were back on the ship did they realize what they were doing.

"But…" Ginny said, looking ready to cry as the ship started to move away from the shore. She looked as if she was ready to jump ship, but Hermy put her hand on her shoulder.

"I know," she said tearfully. "But this is best for him. We shouldn't make him choose us over his godfather. I mean, I know that Sirius wants him to stay… and this looks like a wonderful town to live in. I'm sure that he'll be just fine."

"None of us are happy about this, Ginny," Ron said grimly. Though he didn't know Harry all that long, he couldn't help but feel as if he was abandoning his best friend.

Hermy wiped her tears away as she leaned on the railing, thinking about the one person she had grown to love as her brother. "He found his place…" she said softly.

"Yeah, he did," said a voice behind them and they jumped to see Harry was standing there behind them.

"HARRY!" Ginny called happily, and ran forward to hug him tightly.

"What are you doing here?" Hermy gasped, unable to stop the surge of relief when she saw him.

"What do you by what am I doing here?" Harry demanded, "You that desperate to get rid of me?"

"No," she said hurriedly, "But we left and…?"

"I knew what you were planning," Harry said, rolling his eyes as he and Ginny pulled away. "I knew that you would try something like this. I set out on this journey with you all and I intend to finish it. We made a promise didn't we?"

"But you found your family," Hermy reminded him softly.

"Yeah," he said. "But me and Sirius talked it out. It's not forever. Once we go to Hogwarts and get some real answers, I promised that I'd come back. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed that it was for the best… Look…"

He turned and waved to the shore. They looked back to see Sirius Black standing there on the docks, his arm raised in farewell. "Thanks so much for understanding!" Harry called after him, waving long and hard, "And I promise that I'll be back after we finish what we need to do at Hogwarts!"

"Whatever!" Sirius called back, trying to sound like he didn't care… even at this distance, the sad look on his face betrayed his emotions. "Just come back when you're done!"

"Thanks for saving us, Sirius!" Ginny called, also waving goodbye. "I hope we see you again soon!"

"Yeah, thanks for the food!" Ron called.

"Is that all you have to say?" Ginny snapped at him, rolling her eyes.

"What? He fed us," he retorted.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you," she said with a sigh. "I can't believe that we're related."

But Harry ignored them as he kept his eyes on Sirius even long after the ship pulled from port and the island was nothing but a speck in the distance.

As Ginny and Ron left below deck, still arguing the whole way, Hermy was smiling sadly at Harry. "I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" he asked her in surprise.

"I didn't want you to have to choose between us and…" she began but he gave her head a gentle tap.

"We're family too aren't we?" he asked her. "I mean… I did promise you that I'd stick with you all the way didn't I? Not just half way. And like I said, Sirius understood… and after we get to Hogwarts, we'll find out about your family too. Sirius agreed that we could all move in with him if it turns out that it doesn't work out. But no matter what, I'm going to come back."

"I know," Hermy smiled sadly. "And that's kind of him. At least I know I have a back-up plan when we find out I'm not Hermione."

"And how do you know that?" he asked her.

"Come on," she sighed, leaning against the railing. "Me? A princess? Do I look princess-like to you? I'm about the furthest thing from a princess as possible."

"I don't know," Harry said brightly, turning and walking around the deck. "After all this, I think that it just might be true your highness."

"Not you too," she sighed.

He merely laughed, and Hermy was unable to join in at that—just glad that her best friend would be sticking with her for just a little longer.

***Later***

The rest of the day passed peacefully, and now the sun was starting to set as Harry stood on the deck and stared out at the shore that was long gone. While he was glad that he'd chose to come, a part of him still wished that he stayed behind and get to know Sirius. But… he kept reminding himself that he would learn everything once he returned.

Besides… he wasn't ready to say goodbye to his friends just yet.

"Harry?" said a voice, and he looked up in time to see Ginny walking towards him.

"Oh, Ginny," he said in mild surprise as she joined him at the ship's edge. For a few minutes, neither one said anything. But then Ginny looked to him and said softly, "I'm glad…"

"For what?" he asked her in surprise.

"That you'll be travelling with us for a little longer," she smiled, her hand brushing his as she rested them on the railing beside him. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't want to say goodbye to you."

Harry felt his face turn a little red as they looked at each other. "Neither did I," he confessed and they laughed awkwardly.

"Well, I'll be coming back soon," he told her as he thought back to Sirius. "He even offered to have all of you live with him too… if you wanted to."

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "I mean, it's a nice place, and I wouldn't mind living there I suppose… but…"

"You had different plans?" he asked.

"Not really," she said softly. "I just planned on getting out of Hogsmeade. I never really thought about settling down someplace. But the more I think about it, the more I suddenly want it. Well, I guess it all depends on how well things go at Hogwarts."

She looked up at him, his green eyes looking into her brown ones… and at that moment she no longer cared what happened in the future. She no longer cared about all that reward money. She suddenly knew what she wanted.

She wanted to be with Harry.

She may have only known him for a short time, but she never once had such strong feelings for someone as she did with him. He made her feel safe… that just by being near him gave her a place to belong…

Harry kept looking long and hard at her, his throat strangely dry as he slowly found himself leaning in to her. And as if some force was commanding her to do it, she tilted her head up and that was when their lips finally touched and it was as if the rest of the world faded away until it was only the two of them together.

Harry gently cupped her face in his hands, this kiss was so unplanned, so unexpected… that it was a wonder that they didn't miss their targets. But at the same time it was so wonderful. Neither one of them had ever kissed another before, and had no idea what to do. It began as a simple press on each other's mouths—shy and innocent—but after awhile, it turned soft and they were kissing properly… but slowly.

It wasn't like anything either of them had ever felt before… the closest that they could put to words this experience was coming inside after travelling through a long, cold blizzard and sinking into a warm bath.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally broke apart, and pulled back to stare at each other. For a moment, they seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Now I know," Ginny whispered vaguely.

"Know what?" he asked her hoarsely, gasping for air.

"I know now what it is that I wanted so badly," she confessed, her hands folding into his.

"And what's that?" he asked back.

"I wanted to find a home," she whispered, closing her eyes again, "One that I could go back to… and now I know that I am home…"

"We're both home…" Harry finished for her as he shut his own eyes and they were kissing again—their arms around the other as the rest of the world faded away until it was only the two of them alone together.

***Hermy***

Hermy who was walking up to the deck stopped dead as she saw them. Harry and Ginny were there, their arms around each other and sharing a gentle kiss under the glowing sky. She was stunned to say the least… she had known that they liked each other, but she didn't think they'd be moving this fast. But as she watched them pull away and talk—she could see such a calm and spiritual look on Harry's face that she couldn't remember ever seeing before.

She merely smiled as she turned and headed down the stairs to the room where Ron was. "Did you find them?" he asked her, "It's almost dinner."

"Oh, don't worry," she smiled. "They're just fine. Ginny's just telling Harry how glad she is that he decided to come with us."

"Oh," Ron said, obviously thinking that they were just talking, and Hermy intended to keep it that way if she could help it.

"Just asking," she said, sitting down across from him. "What would you do if Ginny was in love with someone?"

"Why ask that?" he asked her.

"Just making small talk," she lied. "Just asking if you knew that she loved someone?"

"You think I'd let my baby sister be with just anyone?" he asked sourly.

"But what if he truly loved her in return?" she pressed on. "What if she was happy with him and wanted to be with him? I mean, it's bound to happen someday right? You can't protect her forever… and I think she has a great judge of character."

"Look, it hasn't happened yet," he said waving his hand away, "And until it does, I'm not going to bother with it. I mean, if the guy she likes is a decent enough bloke, maybe. But it all depends on the guy."

"And if you approved of him?" she asked smiling.

"Then I… why're you asking?" he demanded.

Hermy fought back a smile. "Well, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself." She leaned back and then asked, "Forget I said anything. But what about you?"

"What about me?" he asked crossly, obviously not liking all these questions.

"What are you going to do when you fall in love with a girl?" she asked him brightly.

"Me?" he asked, suddenly turning red. "I dunno… I never… ah…" he trailed off, and she had never seen him look so uncomfortably.

She laughed, "Forget I ever asked," she said smiling, feeling happier than she had for a long time. She never really noticed how easy it was to talk to Ron… nor how easy it was for her to forget about what it was they were doing. All the questions she had in her life… who was she? Where did she come from? Her family? All those questions seemed to slip out of her mind as she laughed with him. All his stupid jokes just seemed to make it easy for her to forget all these bad things.

Not that she ever really noticed this as she spent the next ten minutes talking with him, laughing about some stupid stuff, until Harry and Ginny came back in the room.

"What took you two so long?" Ron asked them, as Ginny almost floated into the room, a dreamy smile on her face.

"Just enjoying the ocean," she smiled, and went skipping off to her room, saying that she was going to lie down.

Harry merely sat down on the couch with them, and had that same dazed expression on his face.

"What's with you?" Ron asked.

"Huh?" Harry asked distractedly, "Yeah, I'm sure dinner'll be good too…"

"What?" Ron asked, completely baffled as Hermy giggled.

"Oh, I think all this salt air does things to people," she smiled at Ron, as Harry continued to gaze off at the wall, and she knew that dinner was the last thing on his mind. "It's nothing to worry about… they'll be just fine."

**(Awww… yes, I decided to have Harry and Sirius say goodbye again for a little while. And yes, the main romance of the story will be Ron and Hermione. But it's taking them forever to realize how they feel for each other, and I needed something to contract it. Harry and Ginny were meant for each other, but it wasn't until they thought they were going to say goodbye did they really notice it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be getting up the next one soon. The next chapter is when they finally arrived at Hogwarts!)**


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